Miraculous Amnesia
by sergeant peace
Summary: Ladybug has disappeared, the Eiffel tower is in ruins, and the only person who could possibly be able to explain anything is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, unfortunate that she can't even remember the past year, let alone what happened at the tower.
1. Chapter 1

" _3..2…1…ACTION!"_

 _the camera turns on to the scene of paris in chaos, police cruisers and personnel ran back and forth as they tried to usher people out of the streets, behind them, the Eiffel tower was a smoking, twisted hulk of metal and debris, only one of it's lets supports remained in a semi-recognizeable condition, standing off to the side, allowing the camera to see all the destruction, was a redheaded woman who was looking slightly frazzled and worried,_

" _this is Nadja Chamack, We are live here at the Eiffel tower where it's been said that an Akuma battle involving ladybug has severly damaged the great French icon, not much is known what happened in the battle, all that is known is that ladybug has disappeared, the only witness to the battle is said to be in critical condition after the collapse of the tower," she looked to the side as a pair of paramedics carried a stretcher by. Nadja's eyes widened as she quickly abandoned her microphone and took off towards the stretcher._

" _marinette!" she cried._

 _A police officer stepped in the way. "mrs. Chamack, the young lady is in no condition to be interviewed.'_

" _out of my way! She's a family friend!" she said urgently, pushing past the cop, with the camera man following sheepishly._

" _Marinette!" Nadja said again as she got to the stretcher as the paramedics loaded her up on a gurney._

" _you know her?" the paramedic c asked._

" _yes! She's marinette Dupain cheng!" Nadja said, looking past the paramedics to look at the young girl._

 _Her right arm was covered in gauze, which were soaked with blood from the underlying gashes, her clothes were torn and bloody, and her face was bruised from what looked like a beating._

" _We think that the Akumatized victim attacked her," the paramedic said, "She was unconscious when we found her, probably suffering from blood loss."_

" _oh Marinette…" She whispered, putting a hand to the girls cheek._

 _Marinette's eyes slowly opened, "Mrs…Mrs Chamack…" she whispered._

" _marinette! Thank god, what happened?"_

" _I…I don't remember…" she mumbled, "I…I was headed to school…dropped my macaroons helping…who was I helping…"_

"School? Marinette it's a Saturday,"

" _N-no it isn't….it's…it's a Monday…first day of school…"_

" _ma'am we have to keep moving." The paramedic said before Nadja could say anything, as they walked past her, she turned to the cameraman and gave him the signal to cut_

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Nino and Alya ran into the hospital, "we need to know the room that Marinette Dupain-Cheng is in!" Alya demanded as se got to the front desk, the nurse looked up at her.

"are you family?" she asked.

"family friend,"

"I'm sorry, but as of right now only family-"

"listen to me." Alya growled as she grabbed the nures by the front of her shirt, "my best friend is injured, alone, and probably scared, so either you tell me were she is, or I tear this place apart while dragging you by your two front teeth!"

"D-Down the hall f-fourth dor on the left." She squeaked out.

"thank you," Alya said, dropping the nurse and running down the hall, Nino gave the nurse a sheepish 'sorry' before taking off down the hall after her.

By the time he had caught up with Alya, she had already burst into Marinette's room, "Mari!" she exclaimed, then quickly put a hand over her mouth when she found the young girl asleep.

"smooth Alya." Nino said, looking at the sleeping marinette, "Woah, she's pretty beaten up."

"That's what happens when you get a tower dropped on top of you." Alya said, 'what was she even doing there?"

"don't know," Nino said, "we'll ask her when she wakes up."

as if on Que, Marinette's eyes slowly fluttered open, her head slowly turned to the side, "N-Nino?" she asked.

"hey Mari," he said softly, "how are you?"

"I'm…fine…" she mumbled, looking past him and towards Alya. Alya started to smile, until Marinette asked, "who's…who's your friend?"

"d-do you not remember me?" Alya asked, her smile disappearing.

"I…I'm sorry…" Marinette said, "I don't…did…we have a class together before the summer break?"

"summer break?"

"yeah…today's September 1st…right?"

Nino shook his head, "It's august 17th."

"i…that's not…how…"

"you must've hit your head hard girl." Alya said, "and…I'm Alya Sinclair…I'm your best friend."

"best friend?" Marinette asked, trying hard to remember, "I…I think I remember…us sitting beside each other…and…you helping me babyist manon…"

Alya smiled softly, "glad you remember a little bit." She said.

Marinette closed her eyes, "I'm tired…" she mumbled, "and my legs are numb…do you think you can cover them up Alya?"

"um…Marinette…you're legs are already covered…by two blankets.'

"they are?" she asked in confusion as she started to sit up and looking at her legs. Wincing at the pain in her right side, "They are…" they said in surprise. "but then…why…how…" she started touching her legs frantically, "How…i…I can't feel my legs!"

"Mari, calm down." Nino said as soothingly as he could, even though he himself was freaking out.

"why can't I feel my legs!?" she cried, the heart monitor at her side spiking.

"Marinette calm down!" Alya said, putting her arms around her best friend, attempting to calm down.

"why can't I feel my legs?" She asked shakily, laying her head against Ayla's chest, "Why can't I feel my legs?"

"I don't know girl," Alya whispered sadly, "I really don't know…"

Marinette started sobbing as Nino wrapped his arms around both of them, "why can't I feel my legs!?" she sobbed.

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Adrien ran as hard as he could towards the hospital, Plagg trying to stay upright in his pocket, 'Adrien! Slow down!"

Adrien ignored him, "hospital Cognac-Jay," he mumbled as he turned the corner and pumped his legs faster, heading straight into the emergency room, sliding to a halt in front of the desk.

"Monsieur? Can I help you?" the nurse asked as Adrien tried to catch his breath.

"Mari…*huff*…Marinette…*Gasp*…where is she?" Adrien struggled out.

"Mlle. Dupain-cheng was checked out earlier today," the nurse said gently, as Adrien finally straightened up. "I'm sure she's back at home, safe and sound.'

Adrien let out another huff, "thank you ma'am." He said, turning around and taking off at a dead sprint.

"Can we get a taxi this time!?" Plagg cried, "I'm gonna get a concussion from this!"

"no time." Adrien said, "I need to make sure she's fine."

"you heard what Nino said, she's safe! And she's completely fine except for the whole amnesia and paralysis thing."

"I just…I got to see it for myself." Adrien mumbled, slowing down to a walk.

"you know there's a good chance she won't even remember you." Plagg commented, "you could get that second chance at a first impression."

Adrien rolled his eyes, but said nothing, just kept up a brisk walk to get to the Dupain-cheng bakery.

"wonder what she was doing at the Eiffel tower during an akuma attack," Plagg said.

"wish I knew," Adrien muttered, "if I hadn't of been out of town for modelling I could've helped."

"not your fault your dad wouldn't take no for an answer."

"I know…but ladybug needed me, and now she's disappeared…"

"don't worry, she'll be fine." Plagg said, glad that Adrien couldn't see the worried look on his face.

"I hope so," Adrien mumbled as he walked into the Dupain-Cheng bakery, where Tom was busying himself with baking.

"Mr. Dupain?" Adrien said, attempting to get his attention.

The large man jumped, "oh, Adrien," he said, sighing in relief, 'don't scare me like that son."

"Sorry…I was just wondering if I could see Marinette? I got to the hospital and they said that she was signed out already so…"

"of course! Of course you can see her, it's just…well she's not here at the moment."

"what?" he asked in confusion.

"she's going to be staying at her cousin's house until we can install some way for her to get up the stairs." Tom said, sitting down in a chair with a big huff.

"oh…it's that bad, huh?"

Tom nodded, "no movement below the waist," he said, seemingly aging in front of Adrien's eyes, "she gained a little bit of feeling back, but the doctors say she…she may not walk…ever again."

Adrien put a comforting hand on Tom's shoulder, "If I know Marinette," he started slowly, "then it's safe to assume that she won't let a doctors prediction get in the way of anything she does."

Tom smiled, "she's stubborn…just like her mother…" he rubbed his face and stood up, "Come on, I'll give you a ride to her cousins, you can see her there…and don't be offended when she doesn't remember you."

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Marinette sat in a wheelchair looking out the window of her cousin's living room, watching the cars drive by, her hair was out of its usual pigtails, and she was in her pajamas, a blanket covered her legs.

"Marinette!" a cheerful voice called, making Marinette smile as her cousin Bridgette ran into the room, followed closely by her mother, "we got everything settled!" she said giddily, "you'll be staying in my guest bed room and I'll get a couple of friends to help move some of your stuff here so things will be more homey!"

"thanks Birdy." Marinette said softly, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

"no inconvenience at all!" she said cheerfully, "almost never spend time together anymore! This'll be the perfect time to get reacquainted!"

Marinette smiled, "I guess so."

"are you gonna need help getting back there?" Bridgette asked.

"I got it," she said, unlocking the wheels and maneuvering the chair around the quaint apartment, following Bridgette into a large bedroom, "Now, I'm directly upstairs, so if you ever need anything, food, water, someone to talk to, just shout, or call, or hit the ceiling with a broom!"

Marinette chuckled, "I'll be sure to remember that Birdy."

A knock at the door made Bridgette jump, "I'LL GET IT I'LL GET IT!" she shouted, running out of the room.

"she does know this is her house right?" Marinette asked her mother, who was softly laughing.

"yes, but she's always been an excitable one." Sabine said, walking over to her daughter and putting a hand on her shoulder, "Will you be fine here? We can come up with something else so you can be at home…we can close the bakery down and move everything downstairs."

"I'll be fine Maman," Marinette said, putting a hand on her mothers, not looking up from the bed, "It'll be…different, living with Bridgette, but it's only temporary, right?"

Sabine nodded, "two weeks, three weeks' tops."

Marinette smiled and closed her eyes for a second.

"Marinette!" Bridgette called in a sing-song voice, "a boy is calling for your hand in marriage!"

"what?" Marinette asked in confusion, unlocking the wheels and rolling out into the living room, her heart seemed to stop for several seconds when she saw Adrien standing there, looking slightly nervous.

'Um…hi…hehe…I'm not here to ask for your hand in marriage…i-I mean! Not that I wouldn't want to! I mean…you're a very beautiful girl I'm just not…heh…I'm going to stop talking now."

Marinette giggled softly, "Sorry for my cousin," she said, "she tends to get excited.

Bridgette shrugged, "worth a shot," she said.

Tom squeezed past Bridgette and Adrien, walking up to his daughter, 'how are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine papa." She said.

"would you like to speak to your boyfriend privately Marinette?" Bridgette asked slyly.

"dah…I'm not…that is to say…I'm…hehe…"

"he's not my boyfriend Birdy," Marinette said with a good natured eye roll. "but yes…I'd like to speak to him privately.

"go ahead and use the living room then!" Bridgette said cheerfully, stepping out of the way to let Adrien walk past her.

Marinette wheeled herself into the living room, rolling her eyes as she saw her parents and Bridgette lean against the wall 'non-chalantly'. "hello." Marinette said with a smile as she finally turned to look at Adrien, who was nervously tapping his foot.

He gave a nervous grin, "hey…Mari…"

"I…I know this may sound bad…but…who are you?" She asked.

Adrien's grin disappeared, "you…really don't remember, huh?"

She shook her head sadly, "I wish I did…" she mumbled, looking out the window, "I can't remember the last year of my life…I can't remember school, or friends…I didn't even remember my best friend Alya…the only reason I remember her name is because she was one of the first people to come visit me in the hospital." She looked back at Adrien, she took a deep breath, "So, what's your name?"

"A-Adrien, Adrien Agreste." He said.

She smiled, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pleasure to make your acquaintance monsieur." She said, holding her hand out.

Adrien reached out and took it, then bent over and kissed her knuckles, "the pleasure's all mine Mademoiselle."

Marinette blushed slightly, "very smooth, aren't you Monsieur?" she asked, giving a giggle as she withdrew her hand.

Adrien grinned slightly, then cleared his throat, "in all honesty, I'm not that smooth," he said, bashfully scratching the back of his head, "I mean, the first day I actually met you, you thought I was putting gum on your chair."

"why would I think that?" she asked, her eyebrows creasing in confusion.

Adrien sat in a chair across from her. "well, when I walked in, I saw Chloe putting a wad of gum on your chair, and while I was trying to get it off, you walked in and assumed I was putting it on for Chloe and…well it just went downhill from there."

"wow…I'm sorry, I don't usually jump to conclusions like that," she said.

"don't sweat it, I'm pretty sure we resolved everything." Adrien said with a smile, then his brow creased with worry, "are you feeling fine Marinette? You don't need anything, do you?"

"oh I'm completely fine." Marinette said, waving him off, "I'm just cold…but I think that'll be normal for a little while…" she looked down at her legs, a distant look in her eyes.

"Marinette…" Adrien said softly, shaking Marinette from her thoughts, "I know…we weren't the best of friends back before…"

"not that I'd remember." She said with a teasing smile.

"r-right…but…I want to be there for you, help you with anything you need."

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "was Bridgette right when she said you wanted to marry me?"

"W-w-w-what!?" Adrien exclaimed, "n-no I mean, I want to be there as a friend! Like, if you have rehab or something; n-not that I don't think you're not marriage material I just…that is to say…" he stopped as Marinette started to giggle.

"I'm just messing with you," she said lightly. "I'm not one to turn away a friend."

Adrien smiled, "you know, this is actually the longest I've ever talked with you."

"Really?"

"yeah, you used to be all stuttery and flustered when you would talk to me."

"That doesn't sound like me." she said.

Adrien shrugged, "Just how I remember it, but I assumed you didn't like me…"

"well, I'm not feeling any hatred right now, so i assume you're good." She said. Making Adrien smile.

"anyone hungry!?" Bridgette asked, walking in with a tray full of food, Sabine right behind her with a fresh pot of tea.

"um, I should actually be going," Adrien said, "my father's going to be mad for me ditching most of my daily lessons to simply come find Marinette."

"I'm sure he'll understand if you're a little late back home because you're hungry," Tom said, putting a bowl in front of him.

Adrien shook his head, "I've been gone all day, I wouldn't be surprised if he sent Gorilla out to look for me," he stood up and turned to Marinette, "I'll see you tomorrow Mari, you need anything…well I should be in your contacts, but if I'm not, just ask Alya for my number." He gave her a smile and went towards the door.

"goodbye Adrien," she said, waiving as he left.

"so…" Bridgette started once she heard the door click shut, "your boyfriends pretty cute!"

"not my boyfriend," Marinette mumbled, "he's just a friend."

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"Nathalie!? Nathalie I'm home!" Adrien called, looking around the Agreste mansion as he walked up the stairs, "Hmm…Nathalie's not here…that's weird…" he walked towards his father's study, the door to the room was open wide, showing Gabriel Agreste sitting at his desk, looking at something in his hands.

"Father?" Adrian asked hesitantly, making the man look up sharply, closing his hand around the object in his hand.

"Adrien?" Gabriel asked, "where have you been?"

"Visiting my friend Marinette," Adrien said, tensing at his father's uneasiness.

"I heard the young lady got hurt during the last akuma attack…how is she?"

"she's paralyzed from the waist down," Adrien said sadly, "and she has amnesia.

Gabriel took a deep breath, "poor girl…"

"I'm going to help her as much as I can father." Adrien said, waiting for his father to get mad at him, when he didn't, Adrien pressed on, "she needs friends by her side after all of this…and I want to be there for her, and I don't care if fi have to skip my lessons to help her."

Gabriel looked at his son, "well, I guess there's not much I can do to sway your opinion." He said, walking up to the doors of his study and pushing them closed, 'goodnight son."

"Um…goodnight…" Adrien said, a little stunned at his father's reaction.

"and…let me know how she does…"

"yes sir." Adrien said as the doors clicked shut. Gabriel leaned against the closed doors and looked at the pair of earrings he held in his right hand, his whole body shaking.


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien detransformed in his room with a deep sigh, "no sign of ladybug anywhere," he muttered as he pulled some cheese out for Plagg.

"I can't sense her miraculous anymore either," Plagg said as he nibbled on his cheese dejectedly, "usually I can sense it, but right now…"

"I didn't know you could sense miraculous Plagg." Adrien said, sitting on the couch next to the tired out god.

"only the ladybug miraculous, it's my other half, yin and yang, creation and destruction." He sighed.

"So you can tell me who Ladybug really is?"

"Plagg shook her head, "you have to find out on your own, no help from me…"

"can you at least tell me if she's alright?" Adrien pleaded.

Plagg sighed, "she's alive, but Tikki isn't with her."

"Tikki?"

"her Kwami." Plagg said, flying up, "and if she's not with Ladybug, then that means someone took her Miraculous, and we need to find it!"

"that's not our only concern," Adrien said, walking over to the window, "we stopped more crimes tonight then we have in the last six months, people are going crazy out there, mass hysteria."

"animals, the lot of them." Plagg grumbled, "if I had all the power I had back in ancient china…"

"guessing the miraculous limits what you can do." Adrien said, leaning against the window, "I think we may have to go back out there tonight Plagg."

"to search for ladybug's miraculous or to stop crime?"

"both." He answered. "you ready?"

"born that way," Plagg said, "let's find my lady!"

Adrien smirked at that, "alright then, Plagg, Claws out!"

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" _What kind of Akuma is this?"_

" _I can't stop him on my own..."_

" _perhaps you need a helping hand?"_

 _"this doesn't change anything-"_

 _"-yes I know, as soon as you purify this Akuma you and your little pet kitten will arrest me, spare me the lecture girl, we have a pest to take care of."_

 _"Ladybug! WATCH OUT!"_

 _"HELP ME!"_

Marinette woke up with a slight scream, looking around wildly as she tried to quell the terror that bit at her heart.

"Marinette!" Bridgette shouted, running into her room with a broom at the ready, 'What's wrong? Who's attacking?"

'no one's attacking birdy," Marinette said, taking a deep breath to calm herself, "I…I was just having a bad dream…"

"Oh," She said simply, dropping the broom and walking over to Marinette's side, "do you wanna talk about it?"

"I can barely remember it," Marinette mumbled, "all I know is…it was terrifying."

Bridgette put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It's just a dream Mari, it can't hurt you."

"I know…it just…I don't know…felt real."

"and those are the worst," she sympathized, jumping up, "I remember when I had a dream about running naked around the Eiffel tower, it felt real, but wasn't all that real."

Marinette giggled, "you dreamed about running naked around the Eiffel tower?"

"hehe…yeah…" Bridgette laughed nervously, "let's not repeat that," she started walking to the door, picking up the broom, "oh, by the way, that cute blond boy called while you were asleep, he wanted to know if you needed anything."

Marinette smiled, "he's really dead-set on helping me, isn't he?"

"I'm tellin ya, he's got it bad girl."

"stop it Birdy, we're just friends." Marinette said, pulling herself out of bed and transferring herself over to her wheelchair.

"you sure? Because I saw the way you looked at him when you first saw him." She said innocently, "you looked like you were about to swoon."

"I was not!" Marinette objected, blushing profusely.

"you had looooove in your eeeeeeeyes!" she sang, laughing as Marinette threw a pillow at her.

"I can't believe I forgot how annoying you are birdy." Marinette groaned.

Bridgette laughed and then puckered her lips, making a high pitched tweeting sound at Marinette before walking into the living room, "gonna make some breakfast! You still like your eggs scrambled!?"

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Adrien slowly walked towards Bridgette's house, looking back at Gorilla, who was waiting at the corner beside the car. Adrien yawned and rubbed his eyes, forcing one foot in front of the other.

"Adrien, you should really ty and sleep." Plagg said from his coat pocket.

"can't," he mumbled, "have to go see Marinette, promised I'd go by today."

"Adrien, you've only had thirty minutes of sleep." Plagg said, "you can't run on fumes."

'I have before," he said stubbornly, "besides, Marinette needs me."

Plagg sighed, "at least promise that you'll sleep tonight."

"maybe…" Adrien mumbled, knocking on Bridgette's door, he quickly plastered a smile on as the door opened.

"Adrien!" Bridgette exclaimed happily, "welcome back! Come in!"

Adrien slowly stepped in, flinching slightly as he Bridgette shouted, "Marinette! Your boyfriend's here!"

"Boyfriend? You gotta boyfriend?" a familiar voice asked, making Adrien blush as Alya walked out, her eyes widening when she saw Adrien.

"hehe…hey Alya."

Alya looked at him, then at Marinette, who was just now wheeling herself out of her room, "he's not my boyfriend Birdy." She said, earning a tweety sound from her cousin as she walked into the kitchen.

Marinette rolled her eyes then looked at Adrien with a smile, which slowly disappeared as she looked into his eyes.

"how are you feeling today Marinette?" he asked, before she could ask him any questions.

"I'm fine Adrien," she said, her smile returning, but her eyes were still searching his.

"so," Adrien started, "what's the plan for today?"

"we were gonna walk to the park."

"or in my case, roll." Marinette said with a small laugh.

Alya rolled her eyes, "glad you have a sense of humor." She said, "so we taking the car or…"

"Gorilla's right around the corner if we want to take the car." Adrien said.

"Gorilla?" Marinette asked.

"Adrien's bodyguard, big hulking guy." Alya said, "rarely talks, slightly brutish, and I think he has a thing for Mme. Bustier."

"yeah…" Adrien agreed, then looked at Alya in confusion "wait what?"

"well, if he's our best bet to get to the park…" Marinette started, and jumped slightly as Adrien got behind her and started pushing her wheelchair towards the door, "Whoa, what are you doing?"

"I'm pushing your wheelchair." Adrien said.

"I can do that myself," she huffed out.

"it's quite a push to the car," Adrien said, not giving in as Bridgette giggled quietly off to the side, "don't want your arms getting tired.

Marinette crossed her arms, "I'm not helpless you know," she muttered.

"I know," he said with a smile, "but what's the point in pushing yourself so much? Especially when someone's offering to take the load?"

she sighed, "Guess your right…" She mumbled as they went out the front door.

"alright! I'll see you kids later!" Bridgette said happily as Alya caught up with Adrien and Marinette, "I may be out of the house later Marinette, if you need anything, call!"

"Okay Birdy!" Marinette said as they got to the car, Gorilla opened the door and looked down at Marinette, then at Adrien, before either could say anything, Gorilla knelt down and picked up Marinette, carefully setting her in the car and buckling her up.

"Um…thank you?" Marinette said uncomfortably.

Gorilla just nodded and quickly folded up her wheelchair and put it in the trunk, he then opened the door for Alya and Adrien, who got into the car while looking at him strangely.

"does he always just scoop people up?" Marinette whispered to Adrien as soon as the door was shut.

"I don't know; he's never done that before." Adrien whispered back as the door opened again and Gorilla got into the driver's seat, he adjusted the mirror and started driving.

"to the park, yes?" a deep, grunting voice asked, a slight Czech accent tinging the words; it took a couple of seconds for Adrien to Realize that it was Gorilla talking.

"um, yes, thank you."

he nodded, "are you comfortable?" he asked, turning his eyes to Marinette.

"I'm fine, thank you monsieur," she said kindly.

He grunted and started driving. "do you hurt?" he asked, making Alya and Adrien look at him in shock.

"only occasionally." Marinette mumbled, "it's…a dull ache that just…sprouts up every now and again."

he nodded solemnly, "hot water pad helps." He said, "and posture in wheelchair too."

"how do you know?" She asked quietly.

"little sister hurt too," he grunted, "many years ago, had to learn what helped."

"and how is your sister now?"

"she got better," he said, "walks kilometers every morning."

"I'm happy to hear that." Marinette said with a smile as the car came to a slow stop.

He simply grunted and got out, he opened the door for Alya and Adrien, and then pulled Marinette's chair out and set it up for her, he opened the door for her and went to pull her out, but she held up a hand, "I got it," she said kindly, carefully transferring herself to the wheelchair and fixing her legs when she was settled, "I'm sorry I didn't ask this before, but what is your name?"

"Ian," he said simply.

"thank you, Monsieur Ian." Marinette said, giving him a smile.

Gorilla gave her his own, half smile, then went around the car, "I will wait here," he told Adrien, before going back to his usual stoic expression while Marinette moved around the car.

"thanks Go-Ian." Adrien said, catching himself.

Ian simply nodded, looking ahead as the three teens went into the park, Alya was now pushing Marinette, "Well that was…new." Alya said.

"yeah, I didn't even know he talked." Adrien said.

"wouldn't have hurt to try sometimes," Marinette chastised him gently.

"guess you're right." He said with a smile as they walked through the park.

"So, who are ladybug and Chat Noir?" Marinette asked as they came up to a playground.

Alya looked at Marinette in shock, "that's right! You don't remember them!"

"that's why I asked about it." Marinette chuckled.

"right, right, okay, Ladybug and Chat Noir are the heroes of Paris! They protect the city from Akuma attacks."

"Akuma attacks?" Marinette asked.

'Okay, this is gonna take a while, let's find a bench."

Adrien laughed as Alya pushed Marinette pushed over to a bench, where Alya sat down and proceeded to explain everything that had to be known about Ladybug and Chat Noir, Adrien simply just sat down and laid his head back, his eyes slowly closing as he listened to Alya and Marinette talk and laugh...

"Adrien…" a soft, lyrical voice said.

"mhmm…."

"Adrien, wake up." the voice prodded gently.

"huh…." Adrien slowly brought his head up, creasing his eyebrows in confusion when he found that park was slightly darker then he remembered, the bright sun was now hanging low in the sky, painting the grounds a deep orange.

"about time you woke up," Marinette's amused voice said, making him look over to her, she was still in the same spot that Alya had put her in, looking at him with a caring smile.

"where's Alya?" he asked, stretching a little as he sat up straight.

"she had to go babysit her sisters." Marinette said, looking away from him, "she wanted to wake you up, but I thought it'd be nice to let you sleep, you looked so exhausted when you came over today."

"I was," he admitted, scooting closer to her, "was up most of the night?"

"Why?" Marinette asked.

"just…couldn't sleep." He said, saying the same practiced words he always used, he jumped slightly when he felt her flick his forehead, 'hey!" he objected.'

"Don't lie to me." she chastised him, "why were you really up all night?"

he hesitated, then sighed, "Alya told you about Ladybug, right?"

she nodded slightly.

"well, she was something of a…friend to me," Adrien said, "and she's been missing since the Eiffel Tower fell; I spent most of the night worrying about her."

Marinette placed a hand on top of his. "I'm sorry Adrien," she said, "I'm sure she's fine, you just have to have faith that she'll come out of this on top."

Adrien smiled, ruefully, "Guess you're right," he cast a nervous look at her, "you won't tell Alya that I'm friends with Ladybug, right?"

"no, I wouldn't do that to you, I got a vibe from Alya while she was talking about Ladybug, that she's kind of obsessed."

Adrien laughed, "yeah she is." He said, "you should see her when they're actually around, she gets pretty crazy." He sighed and stood up, "time to go home."

"hold on just one second," she said.

"Marinette, it's getting late-"

"I know, and we'll go, but I want to watch the sunset." She said, pointing to a gap in-between the houses, giving a perfect view of the sun slowly falling beneath the horizon.

Adrien smiled softly and squatted down next to her wheelchair, watching the sunset with her.

"it's been forever since I've watched a sunset." She mumbled, smiling as the sky turn purple.

"don't think I ever really sat down and watched one." Adrien admitted.

"I used to always do it," she said, "I would climb up to the terrace on the rooftop, and watch the sun set, it always inspired me for some reason."

"the colors are nice," Adrien said, 'gold, purple, orange and red…"

she just smiled, "I think I'm ready to go home now,"

Adrien nodded and unlocked her wheels, then pushed her towards Gorilla, who had started walking towards them, probably to tell them to leave, "Thanks for letting me sleep mari," Adrien said.

"and thank you for watching the sunset with me," Marinette said.

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 **that night**

Chat slammed yet another robber into the ground as he jumped away from a swinging pipe, he pulled out his own staff and extended it right into the gut of his next attacker, he let out a sigh, looking at the now unconscious robbers on the floor of the jewelry store, as he walked out, a police cruiser came up a paddy wagon right behind him, "good job, Chat," the officer said, getting out of the car.

'anything else needs to get taken care of?" Chat asked tiredly.

"too much," the cop said begrudgingly, "there's been more break ins, riots, and muggings since the Eiffel tower fell, I don't want to see what happens when the mayor confirms that Ladybug is missing."

Chat looked at him, "what?"

"the press has been pressuring Mayor bourgeois to release a statement on what happened, and since we still haven't found Ladybug…"

Chat sighed, "this isn't going to end well." Chat muttered.

The officer patted his shoulder, "go home Chat, us mortals can take care of the rest of this mess, you need to rest up, there may be another Akuma attack soon."

"I'd love to, but you guys need my help, so point me to the next fight."

the cop hesitated, then walked over to his car, pulling out the receiver of his radio, "this is Squad car 43, I'm with the Alley cat, is there anyone in the vicinity who needs help, over.'

" _Squad car 43, tell Alley cat that we got a riot going on in near the louvre, if he can get over there quick, the officers there need some assistance."_

"roger that, I'll inform him." The officer looked at Chat, "riot near the Louvre, think you can get there quick?"

"I'm Alley cat?" Chat asked in amusement.

"Officer Roger thought it was appropriate." The cop said in amusement, watching as the last couple of robbers get put into the paddy wagon, "we'll head towards the Louvre, meet you over there Chat."

"Chat-ch ya later." Chat said, jumping up to the rooftops and taking off towards the louvre, soon he was on top a building overlooking the Louvre, where it was total chaos.

Average citizens were fighting, they were fighting each other, and the police, at least twenty civilians were squaring off against five or six cops, who were trying their hardest not to get overrun.

Chat dove into the center of the fray, not sparing a word as he extended his baton and hit two guys to the ground, instantly he was set upon by five different guys, some with weapons some without, all of them Chat took head on, not stopping until he felt something plung into his shoulder.

"AGH!" Chat snarled, turning around and kicking the guy who put a knife into his shoulder, he reached back and pulled the knife out, "that hurt!" he snapped at the now unconscious guy.

"Chat Noir! Are you alright?" Officer Roger shouted, running up, to the young hero as he pulled the knife out and dropped it onto the pavement.

"I'm fine, just make sure that guy doesn't get a bed." Chat said, holding his shoulder to staunch the bleeding.

"you need medical assistance," roger said, turning to call an ambulance.

"I'll be fine; the suit will heal me up." Chat said, "thanks anyway officer Roger,"

"whelp, I can't, in good conscience, continue to have you help out tonight."

"but-'

"no buts, technically I am your superior, so I'm sending you home Chat Noir."

Chat wanted to argue, but he couldn't he even move his arm without pain, so he nodded numbly, "I'll be back tomorrow night," he said to Roger tiredly.

Roger tipped his hat as Chat took off, holding his arm close to his chest as he vaulted over the streets, forcing himself to continue on even after seeing more muggings and robberies, "nothing you can do like this…damn it…" he muttered as he finally made it to the Agreste mansion, as soon as he got into his room, the transformation broke, "you alright Plagg?"

"Just get me some cheese kid.' Plagg muttered, sitting up as Adrien limped over to his private fridge and pulling out some camembert, he put an entire wheel in front of Plagg and sat down, he carefully pulled off his shirt and put his hand to the knife wound, blood was still slowly oozing out.

"I can't heal that tonight," Plagg said tiredly.

"I'll be fine." Adrien said, walking into the bathroom and pulling out a large Band-Aid and putting it on the cut, "I can make it until tomorrow night."

"you need to sleep during the day." Plagg said.

"I have to go see Marinette." Adrien said dismissively.

"kid, you're running yourself ragged. You keep going like this-"

"I know, but I don't matter right now, Paris matters, Ladybug matters…Marinette matters."

'what do you think you'll accomplish by going to see her every day?" Plagg snapped, flying right into his face.

Adrien didn't flinch, "I get to help someone who's in a dark place." He said, "like I used to help my mom…the battle may not be the same, but it's close enough."

Plagg sighed, "alright, kid, I understand, but don't run yourself ragged! Otherwise I'll have to revoke your miraculous privileges."

Adrien rolled his eyes and smiled, "alright, I'll get some sleep right now, will that make you happy."

"yes," Plagg conceded, "just don't get blood on my side of the bed."

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Alya sat at her desk, rubbing her eyes of sleep, "there has to be a clue on what happened at the Eiffel tower." She muttered as she looked through dozens of videos taken on that day, trying to find one that would show the battle atop the Eiffel tower, "Chat wasn't there, that much is confirmed, but what Akuma were they fighting?"

A new notification pinged on her phone, making her look at it, another video, this one from Alix, Alya pressed on it to see what was up.

 _Took me a while to get this video, this Akuma's like nothing we've ever seen Alya, it was first spotted at the hotel Le Grand Paris, until Ladybug lured it away. Did some damage too, the mayors getting the street in front of his hotel fixed right now, you'd think he'd fix the tower first but whatever_

Alya played the video, her eyes widened as she saw the Akuma for the first time, broad brimmed hat and a black overcoat that covered his naked chest, a black balaclava covered the lower side of his face, an imprint on it making it look like a skeleton was leering at the building, as she watched he pulled a gun out of a holster that was hidden on his side, and aimed at the penthouse suite, just as he was about to fire, Ladybug zipped down, hitting the shot wide, making it fly over the hotel. From here they started a full on battle in front of the hotel, with Ladybug wielding her usual yoyo, and the Akuma wielding the gun and a knife with a twelve-inch blade, the gun was blowing chunks out of the street, and the knife was cutting straight through telephone poles "this is unreal…" Alya whispered, watching them fight.

During a lull in the fight, the akuma cocked its head to the side, "why should I care about earrings? I told you what I wanted." He laughed, "I owe you nothing hawkmoth."

"W-w-what!" Alya stuttered at hearing that, "he's…he's defying hawkmoth? That's…that's new…"

"all I need to do to get my revenge, is get this bitch out of my way," he hurled the knife, and just as it got close to the stunned Ladybug, the feed cut off.

"What! That's it!" Alya shouted angrily, ready to pull her hair out. she quickly rewound the video and started looking the akuma over, "green eyes, long brown hair…kinda ratty…scars all over his chest…and he was trying to get revenge on someone…" she sighed, 'probably Chloe, she would be the logical one here…wait a second…" she started to squint at the screen, "No way…" she quickly transferred the video to her computer, and zoomed in on the top of the hotel, where a man in a purple suit stood, it was too blurry to get a good read on who it was, but Alya was almost certain…

"…that's hawkmoth…" she muttered, "he was at the fight…"


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien woke up with a blazing pain shooting through his shoulder.

'Adrien, you need to get up." Plagg whined in his ear, "your shoulder needs to get treated!"

Adrien slowly got up, letting out a soundless cry of pain as he sat up, cradling his arm close to his chest.

"transform kid, I'll do my best to get the infection out."

"you sure Plagg? Last night wasn't exactly a cake walk for you either."

"just shut up and transform."

Adrien nodded slightly, "Plagg, claws out."

The transformation was quick, but was missing it's usual flare, Adrien just laid down and sighed in relief as he felt the infection get sucked out of the wound, he waited for a couple of seconds, then ended the transformation.

'hey!" Plagg snapped as he plopped on the bed, "why'd you end it? I only got the infection out!"

"you need to rest too Plagg, besides, it's a lot better than it was yesterday." Adrien said, rolling his stiff muscle, "besides, we need to go see Marinette."

"you got it bad kid."

"she's a friend."

"Sure, and I'm just a small cat."

Adrien rolled his eyes and changed his clothes, then walked out of his room, almost instantly running into Natalie, "oh, there you are Natalie."

"good morning Adrien," she said, "how are you today?"

"I'm good, um…can you cancel my tutors for the day? I have a-"

"-yes I know, your father explained it to me." Natalie said with a smile, "and I think it's wonderful how willing you are to help this girl through such a trying time."

Adrien laughed sheepishly, "she's a friend, I have to help her."

Natalie nodded, "If you need anything, just text me."

'okay, thank you Natalie." Adrien said as he walked down the steps and out of the door, where Gorilla was waiting.

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Bridgette looked into Marinette's room, where the young girl was trying to sleep, letting out little whimpers of pain every few seconds, "poor little Mari," she whispered, the pain had started around four that morning, starting at the base of her spine and slowly spreading through the rest of her body, the girl could barely move without letting out a cry of pain.

"Mari," Bridgette whispered, walking in, "I'm going to go get you some pain killers, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay…" she whispered, curling up on herself.

"I'll also bring some food." She said, she turned and walked down the hallway, looking at the slip of paper the doctor had given them, the prescription for a strong pain killer, she opened the door and almost bumped into Adrien. "oh! Monsieur Agreste!" she said, 'sorry, wasn't paying attention."

"that's alright," Adrien said, "so um…is Marinette up?"

Bridgette sighed, 'she's having a bad day Adrien," she said, "she's been having terrible pain all morning, poor thing can't even get out of bed. I don't think it'll be a good day for you to be here."

"but I promised her I'd be here for her," Adrien said, "how about I sit with her while you're out, keep her company, get her anything she needs."

"I…okay, just be quiet, she hasn't slept much."

"that's something we have in common," he joked as he walked inside, Bridgette smiled and started walking out.

"I won't be long, thirty minutes at the most."

Adrien waved goodbye as he slowly went into Marinette's room, "Marinette?" he asked softly, "are you awake."

"mhmm…"

Adrien pulled the chair up, sitting down beside her bed, "I'm gonna stay with you until Bridgette gets back," he said, leaning forward slightly.

"okay…" she whispered, shaking slightly.

"is there anything I can do?" Adrien asked,

Marinette turned slowly until her body was facing him, she slowly reached out her hand, making Adrien take it softly in his, "just…stay here," she whispered, squeezing his hand as another wave of pain coursed through her.

Adrien rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, "I'm sorry I can't do more to help." He said softly.

"you're doing enough," she mumbled.

Adrien fidgeted with his ring as she said that _no…I'm not…_ he thought, but he didn't say it out loud, instead, he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as she whimpered in pain.

"Slumber now…" Adrien mumbled, a song his mother used to sing to him coming to mind, "my darling one, rest for now, the day is done, mother sings a lullaby, hush, my darling do not cry."

Marinette closed her eyes as a tear slowly trailed down her cheek, Adrien reached over and gently brushed it away.

"Papa waits on a distant shore," he sang softly, "Soon you'll be with him once more, moonlight shines on oceans deep, as the ship softly rocks you to sleep." He ran a hand through her hair as her breath became a little more even, "may your sleep be as sweet as the wind on the rain, blowing gently towards far happier days, may each breath be a promise to help you believe, we're off to the land of our dreams." He let out a sigh, "we're off, to the land of our dreams." He smiled as he noticed Marinette was asleep, every now and then she would tense up as pain would rack her body, but Adrien continued to hum and run a hand through her hair, keeping her asleep.

"alright, I'm back." Bridgette said, walking in with a cup of water and two small white pills, her eyes widened as she saw Marinette asleep, and Adrien running his hand through her hair, humming comfortingly for her, she leaned against the door frame with a slight smile, "not her boyfriend, huh?"

"she was hurting, and miserable." Adrien said softly, still running his hand through Marinette's hair, "so I did what my mom used to do when I was hurting, or sick…I sang her a lullaby."

Bridgette just chuckled softly, "you're hopeless," she said, walking up to Marinette and shaking her shoulder as softly as she could, "Marinette, I have your pain medication."

Marinette slowly opened her eyes, "Birdy…" She mumbled, picking her head up and looking at her cousin, pain still evident in her eyes.

"don't strain yourself," Bridgette said lightly, "take these pills."

Marinette carefully took the pills and drank the water. "thank you Birdy…" she mumbled.

Bridgette nodded, "I'm gonna go into the living room, Marinette, that medicine will put you to sleep, so if you and your boyfriend are going to do something, make it quick."

"not my boyfriend," Marinette mumbled, while Adrien just blushed.

Bridgette just laughed and walked out, Adrien rubbed the back of Marinette's hand, "do you want me to leave?"

she shook her head, her eyes were already drooping as the medicine did it's job. "don't go yet." She mumbled.

Adrien just nodded and continued to rub the back of her hand, his other hand playing with her hair.

"Adrien…"

"hmm…"

"can…can you sing me the lullaby again?"

Adrien smiled, "of course Marinette."

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Bridgette watched as Adrien walked out of Marinette's room, sitting on the couch across from her, "She's asleep." He said.

"good," she said, looking at her TV.

"I think I'll go home, catch up on some sleep." Adrien said, slowly standing up.

"okay, and Adrien, you be careful out there, Paris is getting more and more dangerous as the days go by, I know Marinette worries about all of you…so…stay safe."

Adrien flashed a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "I won't even be near the danger, so don't worry Bridgette, I'll see you tomorrow."

Alya walked alongside Nino as they walked away from the Hotel Le Grande Paris, police tape and construction equipment stopping them from getting any closer, "so there was a battle between Ladybug and the Akuma there," Alya mumbled, "but why?"

"who knows," Nino said, putting an arm around Alya, "and we probably won't ever find out."

"you're right…" Alya said, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying to find the truth."

Nino smiled, "you wouldn't be the Alya I know and love if it did." Nino said, kissing her forehead, making Alya smile slightly.

"I just…hey, old man!" Alya shouted at an old man in a Hawaiian shirt try and hobble across the road as a car came careening down te street, 'hey! Get out of the way!" she took off running and tackled the man out of the way a split second before the car could hit them, "are you alright?" she asked the old man.

'oh, I'm completely fine," he said, a twinkle in his eyes, "thanks to your quick thinking."

"you two okay?" Nino asked, running over, kneeling by both of them, "Alya that was reckless!"

"he was in danger!"

"That doesn't t mean you can put yourself in danger." Nino said, then turned to the old man, "are you sure you're alright sir?"

"yes, I am fine," he said, standing on his own, "I thank both of you for your help, but I must be going."

Alya stood up, "that old man was a little weird." She muttered.

Nino nodded, "you sure you're alright Alya?" he asked worriedly.

"I said I'm fine Nino," Alya snapped slightly, making Nino wince, she sighed, 'I really am fine," she said gently, "don't worry so much."

"I know…it's just…with all this stuff going on…and with Marinette hurt…I worry more than usual."

Alya sighed, "she was hurting today." She said softly, "Bridgette called and told me she was in too much pain today, and that it would be better for me not to see her like that…and I just…I felt so useless…I couldn't even help my best friend…" she felt tears fall as Nino wrapped his arms around her, cradling her as she started to sob.

"don't worry Alya," Nino mumbled, "Marinette's one tough cookie, she'll get outta this alright."

Alya nodded tearily, "but-but I w-w-wish we could help her more." She mumbled.

"all we can do is have her back," he said, kissing the top of her head, "come on, let's get you home."

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Alya tiredly dragged herself up the steps towards her room, she opened her door and almost collapsed on her bed, she laid there for a few minutes until she sat up, "guess I better check the ladyblog." She stood and walked to her desk, but stopped short when she saw a black and red jewelry box sitting on top of her computer, "what the-" she started, she carefully picked it up and opened it, as soon as she did, a bright orange light filled her room, she shielded her eyes until the light went away, when she put her hand down, she found herself staring at a small little…fox. It was looking at her with wide purple eyes.

"you're my new chosen!?" she asked, flying around Alya's head, "hmm…a little more busty then I'm used to, but I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

"e-e-excuse me!?" Alya spluttered, "What's wrong with being busty!"

"nothing's wrong," she said, landing on Alya's head, "just extra padding, I'm sure you make your clients very happy."

"Clients!?"

"Anyways," the fox said, sliding off her head, "I'm Trixx! I'm the Fox Kwami."

"Kwami? What's…wait…do you have anything to do with a Miraculous?"

"give the girl a prize!" Trixx giggled, "boy, with brains like that, you must have the boys leaving you alone in the corner of the classroom."

"why are you insulting me?"

"because it's fun." She said, "so anyways, let me explain to you what it is I am here to get you to do."

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Nino looked at Wayzz, still trying to wrap his head around what he was just told, "so, I got chosen to be a superhero?"

"that's about right," the little Kwami confirmed, "with Ladybug out of commission, Chat Noir's going to need a lot of help."

"Okay, so how are we going to help?"

"well, we'll transform, and we'll back him up whenever he needs it, which will most likely be tonight, he's taken over ladybugs patrols since she disappeared."

"but what can I do?"

"well, with the miraculous, you'll get strength, turtles aren't known for being fast, but we are strong, and you'll also have you're special power, which is the ability to heal and purify."

"heal and purify?"

"yes, you'll have the ability to heal people of most injuries, and purify Akuma's, though that second one won't heal Paris like Ladybugs."

"I can heal people!?" Nino asked, "dude! Does that mean I can heal my friend Marinette!? She got hurt during the last Akuma attack, and if I can heal her-"

"I'm afraid you can't," Wayzz said sadly, "her injuries are too numerous and far too extensive, I wouldn't be able to help her, the only thing that may possibly help her would be the Ladybug or Chat Noir Miraculous, and even then it'd take a couple of months to fully heal her, I'm Sorry Nino."

Nino sighed, "it's alright bro," he said, 'but…I guess I can help everyone else, right?"

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"no…freaking…way…I'm going to be a superhero!" Alya squealed.

"yep! But don't think that means you can do all you want." Trixx said, "you are a force for good, so no killing people, and no using your powers to pick up guys, or girls, I don't judge."

Alya glared at the smirking Kwami, "So, when can I try it out?"

"right now if you want, I sense Chat Noir close by, so you can transform and go see what he's up to."

"great! Oh boy I can't wait to tell Nino…" she stopped, "I…I can't tell Nino, can I?"

"I don't care," Trixx said, "you can tell everyone if you want, but you'd be putting them in danger."

"right…" Alya sighed, "no sweat, I can keep a secret from him."

"sure you can! Now come on! Let's transform! You remember the words?"

"yeah! Trixx, make me sly!"

a bright light filled the room, and when it disappeared, Alya was standing in the middle of her room in a skin tight suit, it was orange except for at her chest, where it was white, there were slits at her side, going from her hips to half-way up her side, and a keyhole top, with her stomach still covered, she also had two pointed fox ears sticking out of her hair, in her right hand she had a long flute, "she was calling me promiscuous?" Alya asked, looking at herself in the mirror, "hmmph," she opened up her window and jumped out, "now, let's find Chat Noir."

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"you going to transform?" Wayzz asked.

"not sure yet…still wrapping my head around this…" Nino said, fingering the bracelet.

"well you better hurry, your new partner just transformed, and I don't think she's one to be patient."

Nino sighed, "alright, Wayzz…um…"

"really? you forgot already?"

"n-nah I remember…it's um…morphin' time?"

"you disappoint me." Wayzz said with a shake of his head, "it's shell on."

"r-right…really? shell on? How-" he stopped as soon a bright green light filled the room, when it disappeared he found himself standing in a body suit, the pants were slightly baggy while the top was tighter, molding around his muscles, the suit was several shades of greens, with the shoulders, around the hips, around his neck, and a large diamond on his chest being a light green, while the rest of the suit was a darker shade, a hood was pulled up over his head, and green tinted goggles. He slowly reached behind his back and pulled a heavy round shield off his back, "whoa," he said, knocking on the shield, making a dull ringing sound, "okay…kinda cool/" he said, walking over to his window and pushing it open, "alright…never done nothin' like this before, but what the hell." He dove out of his second story window and flew over four city blocks before crashing into an alley, "Ow…" he groaned, "guess this is what he meant by strength." He muttered as he stood up and picked a piece of trash out of his shield, he walked out and almost got run over by a speeding car, "what the hell!" he shouted, looking around the street, "whoa…" dozens of people were breaking into shops and brawling on the street, it seemed Paris was in complete pandemonium, "hey, stop!" Nino shouted, running towards a group of men who were brutalizing a young man, Nino pulled the shield off his back and slammed it into the nearest guy, sending him flying down the street.

Now, while Nino wasn't exactly a black belt, he did know basic boxing from his uncle and father, so he put that to good work, quickly replacing the shield on his back and dispatching the other four guys, he quickly knelt down next to the boy, who slowly sat up,

"They wanted my wallet," he muttered, "you just saved me."

"you're welcome, now get home." He stood up and helped the guy up, letting him head off while he turned back towards the fighting. He started stalking towards them, "HEY!" he shouted loudly, making everyone flinch and cover their ears, Nino's eyes widened slightly.

"okay…guess the strength goes to my lungs too." He mumbled, looking at the dozens of Parisians glaring at him, "alright, all of you need to put the stuff back where you got it, and head home!"

"Says who!" someone snapped.

"Says me," Nino said, puffing his chest out, "the Jade Turtle!"

instantly people started to laugh, "and what can you do!?" one said laughing.

"uh…I got a shield, I got healing powers, and I got strength…so…"

they started laughing again, this time, a couple of them started to go back to pillaging, until a certain cat jumped in front of them. "I'd do what he says," Chat Noir said, leaning his staff against his shoulder, "it could be Chat-astrophic."

a couple stepped back, but several more charged at both Chat Noir and Nino, both tensed, ready for a fight, only to be shocked when the people in front of them stopped in confusion, looking around, then looking scared, before taking off running down the street,

"Bro…what just happened?" Nino asked, walking over to Chat.

"I have no idea." Chat said.

"I happened!" someone said, making both boys jump when a girl jumped down from the roof and landed in front of them.

"Sup guys, Volpina here, just thought I'd drop in to help you guys from a beat down." She said, flipping her hair back and smirking at the two stunned men.

"Uh…" Chat mumbled,

"I have a girlfriend, I have a girlfriend, I have a girlfriend," Nino mumbled over and over again, looking at Volpina.

Volpina cocked a hip out and rested her hand on It, "Come on boys, use your words."

Chat blushed, "hehe, well, thanks for the help, don't think I would be able to fight very well." He said, rolling his shoulder, nino frowned and walked over, putting his hand on Chat's shoulder, he could feel the deep wound, and while it was healing slowly, it wouldn't do very well on its own, he concentrated as he put the palm of his hand against the wound.

"W-what are you-" Chat started, but let the words die in his throat as he felt the wound close itself up, Nino stepped back, looking pleased with himself.

"Jade Turtle," he said to Chat, "healer extraordinaire, Boxing champ, at your service."

"thanks man," Chat said, rolling his shoulder, "that's gonna save me a lot of time."

"yeah, good job Captain America," Volpina said, leaning against him, "now you have five minutes until you transform back."

aw crap." Nino groaned. Looking around, "I guess I'll catch up with you guys later tonight.

"uh…what?" Chat asked.

"we're your new partners buddy boy," Volpina said, "which means we follow you for patrols and anything else you need."

instantly, Chat's mood switched, "I already have a partner," he said, glaring at the two, "and she's not replaceable."

"we're not replacing Ladybug," Nino said, "we're just tryin' to give you a helping hand, because no offence, but you look like a raggedy pile of shi- "

"Not helping." Volpina snapped at Nino, who backed off sheepishly. "what he's saying, is we're just here to make sure you don't over extend yourself."

Chat sighed, "I…I just don't want her to be replaced." He said softly.

"and she won't be, but it looks like she won't be back any time soon." Volpina put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "so let us help you."

Chat nodded mutely, "there's another riot going on at the Louvre, bigger then the last one, I think I'll be needing both of you to stop it."

"got it, but first, shell-boy over here needs to rejuvenate."

"Shell-boy?" Nino asked, but then his bracelet beeped and he groaned, "we'll talk about that later." He grumbled, taking off running.

Volpina chuckled, then turned to Chat, "So, you ready?"


	4. Chapter 4

"and that's the last of them." Nino said, looking around the Louvre, dozens of Parisians were either knocked out, in cuffs, or staring transfixed at something in front of them while the police ran as quick as they could to slap cuffs on them."

"I gotta hand it to ya," Chat said, landing beside him, 'you're pretty good in a fight."

"all I got is boxing dude," Nino said, "you got like, Tai Kwan do, Karate, and judo."

"could be worse.' Chat said, "could've gotten the miraculous without any idea on how to fight or defend yourself."

"true," he admitted.

"you two girls done gossiping?" Volpina asked, landing next to Nino.

"Nope, so can you go stand over there for a bit?"

Volpina rolled her eyes, "does every blond think their comedians or something?"

Nino rolled his eyes, "I think the cops can take care of the rest," Nino said, looking over as several Paddy wagons rolled in."

"yeah, time for some rest and relaxation!" Volpina said, "except for me and you turtle boy, we need to talk."

"I have a girlfriend." Nino said automatically.

"don't flatter yourself, we need to talk about our partnership."

"he just said he has a girlfriend." Chat said, dodging a swipe from the now irate fox, "and on that note, I'm gone, chat-ch you guys later." And with that, Chat Noir was gone.

Volpina groaned, "come on captain America," she said to Nino, walking towards one of the buildings, "let's go talk."

Alya looked at the Jade Turtle, trying to figure out what to say first, "So, apparently we're going to be partners now." She started.

"yeah, totally cool right?" Turtle asked, pulling the shield off his back, "wish I got more than just the shield though, hard to fight when all you got is this, I even tried to do, like, wickedly awesome tricks with it, that just made me lose it."

Alya studied the shield for a while, then walked forward, "put both hands through these straps here." She instructed, "then pull."

he did what she said, his eyes widened in surprise when he came out with tonfa's, "whoa…alright, this will definitely help me with boxing." He looked at Alya, "so, all you got is the flute?"

"yeah, but it does more then play pretty music." She said, sashaying away from him, "I can plant mental suggestions into people, like, 'these guys are scary' or, 'I should go home, I might've left the oven on!'"

"that's how you got those guys to back off!?" Turtle asked in surprise.

"yeah, I used my illusions for that large crowd back there, made them think there were thousands of cops." She sighed, hearing her necklace beep, "and I only have about five minutes until I reveal myself, so I'll see you tomorrow night."

"uh…when? Because I kinda got a date…"

"Ha-ha, yeah right." Alya scoffed.

"I'm serious, me and A-Ah…my girlfriend will be seriously mad if I cancel on her, and you wouldn't like her when she's mad, she glares, and yells and…to be honest it's kinda hot but I'm not going to get killed because of you."

Alya rolled her eyes, "don't worry playboy, after sundown we'll meet up on this roof, then we'll go find Chat, alright?"

"yeah, alright," turtle muttered.

"See ya later then," she said, she quickly leaned in and flicked his head and pulled his hood down, "bye!" she shouted, giggling as she jumped to another roof top while Turtle was spluttering and trying to fix his hood.

"guy's too easy." Alya laughed as she finally made it back home and detransformed.

"what happened to your boyfriend?" Trixx asked sleepily, sitting on Alya's bed.

"what about him? I wasn't flirting."

"It sounded like you were," The fox said slyly.

"oh what do you know," Alya said dismissively, falling onto her bed tiredly, "now, I'm going to sleep…because tonight was tiring.'

"I agree…do you have any food?"

"there's a sleeve of cookies on my desk."

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Marinette laughed as Nino and Adrien wrestled on the floor.

"Say it!" Nino shouted, holding Adrien in a headlock.

"Screw you!" Adrien struggled out.

"After you say it."

Adrien threw Nino off and got him in a full nelson, "I'll never say it!" Adrien said.

"come on!" nino groaned, "you know that captain America and kick Batman's ass every day of the week!"

"nope!" Adrien said, "batman beats both!"

suddenly Alya jumped out and tackled Adrien to the ground, holding both him and nino in headlocks, "you're both wrong!" Alya said, "Wonder woman's the best superhero, period, got it?"

"Got it…" both guy's groaned out.

"good!" Alya said brightly, letting them go as Marinette continued to laugh.

Adrien smiled as he listened to Marinette laugh, "who do you think's the best Marinette?" he asked the wheelchair-bound girl.

"hmm…I have to agree with Alya, but I also really like Black Widow." Marinette said.

"can't fight that one." Alya said, sitting next to Marinette, they were all sitting in the park, watching the children play.

"have you guy's heard about the new superheroes?" Nino asked, fixing his hat, "Volpina and the Jade turtle?"

"I thought Volpina was an Akuma?" Marinette asked in confusion.

"that was an imposter." Alya said, "this one's the real deal."

"yeah, I hear their both pretty cool." Nino said, "especially the Jade turtle, dude has a shield."

"that's the coolest thing about him?" Adrien asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I-I mean we haven't found out more about them, I just thought that was the coolest thing." Nino defended.

"yeah, but I definitely think Volpina's the best, I mean, if she's anything like the Akuma, then she'll be able to cast illusions!"

"yeah, but those get phased through quickly." Adrien pointed out, "can she fight?"

"uh…I…don't know…"

"so a person can only be a great hero if they can fight?" Marinette asked, crossing her arms.

"I-I didn't say that!" Adrien said quickly.

"you implied it." Marinette said, making Alya laugh behind her.

"I…uh…I…"

"just give up man." Nino whispered to him, "girls always win."

"Uh…you're right Marinette, I'm wrong."

She smiled, "glad you figured it out."

"alright you two, let's go, it's getting dark out and we don't want to be out late."

"yeah, I heard that even more people will be coming out tonight." Nino said, "people are taking advantage of the chaos."

"Alya," Marinette started, "please tell me you're not going to run out to film all of this."

"nah." Alya said, leaning back.

"what?" Nino and Adrien asked in confusion.

Alya looked at them and realized her slip up, "I-I mean, I found someone to do the podcast for me," she said with a nervous laugh.

"who?" Nino asked, "because if some hombre's trying to move in, I'm gon have to kick some major tail."

Alya rolled her eyes, "don't worry Nino, you're the only guy for me." she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Making Nino smile.

"alright you two love birds, we'll see you tomorrow." Adrien said, pushing Marinette towards Gorilla.

"see you two later!" Alya said, "be safe Adrien!"

"I'm only walking to the car…" he paused for a few seconds, "get your head out of the gutter Sinclair!"

"Make me Agreste!"

Marinette chuckled tiredly, "it's fun hanging out with you guys…" she mumbled, her eyes drooping.

Adrien smiled, "I'm glad you're having fun...Princess…"

Marinette stiffened at that, the word making her head hurt slightly, "w-what?" she asked softly.

"um…nothing…" Adrien said quickly, feeling a blush come to his cheeks.

"Did…you just call me…"

"I did," Adrien said, "and I'm sorry…force of habit."

Marinette slowly relaxed, "did you used to call me that…before?"

"yeah…sometimes." Adrien said, still scratching his head.

"it…it stirred something…in the back of my mind." Marinette said, with a far away look in her eyes.

"I-it did?"

she nodded slightly, "I…I remembered my balcony…and…I think it was you…sitting with me…I…I can't remember." She said in frustration, close to tears, "I…I remember, I know I do…we…we…" she let her head fall as tears fell, "why can't I remember damn it!?"

Adrien stopped pushing her wheelchair and kneeled down in front of her, "Marinette," he said softly, "Marinette, look at me."

Marinette slowly looked up, tears flowing down her cheeks, Adrien softly cupped her face in his hands, wiping away her tears with his thumbs, "it'll come back to you," he said softly, "you don't have to torture yourself like this, okay?"

She nodded slightly, tears still leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

Adrien wiped her tears once more, "you'll get through this." he murmured, "and your memories will come back…just be patient, yeah?"

"y-yeah." She said shakily, smiling a little.

"good, now let's get you home, before Birdy kills me." Adrien stood and got behind her once more, pushing her towards gorilla.'

"A-Adrien…"

"yes Marinette?"

"Before you leave…can you sing me that lullaby again?"

Adrien smiled, "of course, Marinette.'

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Chat sat atop city hall, looking out across the city.

"you ready to do this?" Jade Turtle asked, walking up behind Chat.

"Where's Volpina?" Chat asked.

"Can I not go by that anymore?" the sly fox asked, appearing out of nowhere on Chat's right, "brings up bad memories."

"then what would you like to go as?" Chat asked, "floors open."

"Hmm…Vixen." She said.

"that fits." Turtle scoffed, making her glare at him.

"excuse me?" she asked, "you got something to say?"

"guys." Chat warned, making both heroes shut up, "we don't have time to be arguing, Vixen's a good name, now let's get going, I see some robbers who we're about to Chat-ch unawares." He jumped off of his perch and quickly extended his baton, making it hit an unaware robber in the back.

"you gotta like his forwardness." Turtle said, pulling his shield off his back.

"yeah," vixen agreed, "his puns need work though." and with that they both charged into the fray. Turtle quickly slammed his shield into a running robbers face, sending him flying into a wall, he quickly changed the shields into tonfa's and took on one of the larger men while Vixen attempted to use her illusions to confuse her own robber, only to have to dodge and evade as the man attacked her, giving her no chance to play her flute.

"need help Vixen!?" Chat called as he slammed his opponent into the ground.

'I got this under control." Vixen said as she grabbed the guys arm and threw him, making him slam painfully into a light pole. "how's turtle doing?"

"good," Turtle said, sitting on top of the large, now unconscious, man. "too easy."

"gotta admit, this is a lot easier with you guys around." Chat said, walking down the street with the two heroes flanking him.

"aw, he likes us!" Vixen gushed, "I'm touched."

Chat just laughed, "come on," he said,

turtle looked at Vixen, noticing something hiding right behind her hair, "Uh…Vixen…what's that?"

"huh? Oh! It's a go-pro cam." Vixen said, tapping it, "some girl flagged me down before we met up, asked me if I could record."

Turtle's eyes widened, "and you did it for her?"

"of course! She seemed pretty cool." Vixen said, looking at Chat as the leather clad superhero stopped in his tracks, "Chat? You alright?" she asked, looking at the leather clad teen, who was staring off to a spot ahead of them, "what is he…" she stopped as she realized where they were."

"the Eiffel tower…" Turtle said softly, looking at the twisted wreckage in the distance, construction equipment was surrounding the wreckage. Ready to pull the debris away at a moment's notice.

Vixen looked at Chat with worry, she quickly reached up and turned the Go-Pro, "Chat…are you alright?"

Chat kept staring at the wreckage, "It's my fault…" he said softly.

"Chat…"

"it's my fault," he said again, "I…I let my dad send me out of town…I should've been here to back her up…"

"Chat it was out of your control." Vixen said, putting a comforting hand on Chat's shoulder, "the only thing we can do, is find her, and put Hawkmoth behind bars."

Chat nodded, "let's go find some more crimes, I need to blow off some steam.

 **The next morning**

Adrien woke up to his alarm clock the next morning, he got up and quickly got dressed, "come on Plagg." He said, picking up the sleeping god, "Marinette's going in for her check-up, and I said I'd be there."

"can't I stay here?" Plagg whined.

"no, what happens if there's an emergency?"

"then you play the civilian for once." Plagg muttered, flying into Adrien's pocket.

Adrien rolled his eyes and walked out, almost bumping into his father, "oh, I'm sorry father, I didn't see you." he said, looking at the man, he didn't look all too well, he had dark bags under his eyes and had a prominent five o'clock shadow, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine son," Gabriel said, "I was just coming by to check on you, and see if you had any word on Mlle. Marinette.

"she's doing better father," Adrien said, "she still can't move her legs, but she said she was starting to remember things, nothing too clear, but she's getting closer.

Gabriel nodded, "thank you son, if she needs anything- "

"I know father, let you know." Adrien said, walking past him, "I'm going with her right now to see the doctor, see if she's doing better."

Gabriel nodded, "give her my regards." He said, turning back around and walking away.

"Wonder what that was about." Adrien muttered."

"who knows," Plagg said, "now hurry up! let's get this over with."

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On the outskirts of Paris Gregor Martin with his great grandfather, an old, bearded, silver haired man with tribal tattoos swirling down his arms. They sat out on the porch of his old country house, looking out towards the city.

"how's school." The old man asked gruffly, pulling a pipe out of his frayed jacket.

"it's good Farfar," Gregor said, "all good marks."

"hmm…" he hummed, packing tobacco into the pipe and lighting it, " best make sure you do good, an Erikson does his best in everything he sets out to do."

"yes Farfar." Gregor said, "but…I don't even carry your last name?"

"but you still have my blood running through you." he said, blowing smoke out of his nose, "the blood of the last Vikings in France, this very land that we stand upon, has been in our family for generations, mine father, and his father before him cultivated and defended this land, just as you will one day."

Gregor smiled at that, "it is beautiful land." He said, looking at the tall grass waving peacefully in the breeze.

"it is and-" he stopped as he saw two cars turn onto his property, he slowly stood up, his hand going to a shotgun beside his chair, "the vultures come back." He growled.

"Farfar."Gregor said warningly, making the old man sigh and let go of the shotgun as the two cars parked and two men in suits came out.

"Ragnar Erikson," one of the men said, "how are you today?"

the old man continued to smoke, not paying them any attention.

"um…we're from Larrs construction," the other said, "and we've been sent- "

"I know why you're here." He growled, packing more tobacco in his pipe. "and you already know my answer, this land belongs to my family, and there's no amount of money that you can give me that will make me give it away."

"be reasonable." One said, "you're the last of your family."

"my grandson sits next to me right now." He said.

Gregor waved slightly. "hello…"

"Sir, you're making a big mistake." The agent said, "don't you want your grandson to be taken care of?"

"this land provides for its own." Ragnar said, standing up, "ancient magic-"

"ancient magic is nonexistent." The agent said, his temper rising, "you claim your land is magical, yet your wife died, if it was magical you're wife would've lived."

Ragnar clenched his fists, "get off my lawn." He growled, grabbing his shotgun.

"Farfar- " Gregor started as the men ran towards their cars.

"off!" he shouted, walking down the steps as they got into their cars, "and if you come back I'll-" he stopped as his arms stiffened up, he let out a cry as he fell to the ground, convulsing.

"Farfar!" Gregor shouted, running over to his grandfather, one of the agents got out of the car and ran over to Gregor, kneeling next to him, his phone out.

"hello, this is Francis LaMarque, we need an ambulance out here at 40332 county road." He said, "it's an emergency, hurry!"

Gregor cradled his grandfather's head, "Farfar, please…"

"Gregor…" he whispered hoarsely, "Landet er ditt, ta vare på det, og det vil ta vare på deg."

"Gregor felt tears trail down his cheeks, "Jeg skal forsvare det med livet mitt, bestefar." He mumbled.

"The EMT's will be here soon son." LaMarque said.

Gregor looked down at his grandfather, "this is your fault…it's all your fault." He shouted angrily at the agent.

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Gabriel looked up as he felt his brooch burn against his skin, "I can't give up now." He muttered, standing up. Nooroo flew out of his pocket, "Nooroo, darken my wings."

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Gregor watched as the EMT drove off of the property, beside him stood LaMarque, "the EMT's say he'll be fine." He said, "they said he'll make a full recovery."

"he's over a hundred and twenty years old." Gregor muttered, his eyes red from crying, "he won't make a full recovery…he was already getting so weak…and this…"

"I truly am sorry, my associate went too far, and I promise- "

"just…get off my property." Gregor said, turning to go inside, reaching for his grandfather's pipe as he did.

LaMarque sighed and walked away, he looked back one more time, he stopped as he saw a black butterfly fluttering towards the pipe, "Gregor, wait!"

but it was too late, Gregor's hand closed around the pipe and he went rigid.

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 _Heathen, my name is hawkmoth, I can help you defend your homestead and heal your grandfather, but first, you must do me a favor._

"I'll do anything you want Hawkmoth." Gregor growled. As shadows engulfed him.

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 _Farfar- Norwegian name for someone's grandfather_

 _Landet er ditt, ta vare på det, og det vil ta vare på deg. - The land is yours, take care of it and it will take care of you._

 _Jeg skal forsvare det med livet mitt, bestefar. - I'll defend it with my life, grandfather._


	5. Chapter 5

**I'd like to thank everyone who Reviewed so far, it helps me know that you guys like where the story is going, sorry for how long it takes to update, just started a job at the county Jail, and that's cutting into my usual writing time, but I promise I'll start updating more soon, until then.**

 **Peace out,**

Adrien sat in the waiting room alongside Alya and Nino, "Can't believe they won't let us in." Alya growled.

"well, it is family only." Adrien said, leaning back.

"we're family!" Alya objected.

"Not by blood babe." Nino said, flipping through the channels.

"but still!"

Adrien sighed, looking towards the double doors.

"looking at them won't make this go by any faster playboy." Alya said in amusement.

Nino gave her an odd look, but then turned to look at Adrien, "She's right bro, staring doesn't make time go fast."

"playboy?" Adrien questioned, looking at Alya who just laughed.

Nino rolled his eyes and went back to the TV, stopping on a news channel.

 _The streets of Paris were a wreck, with citizens running in fear and policeman with stun guns and bean-bag rifles fired at what appeared to be skeletons in armor, and at their forefront was a large, bearded man, swinging an axe and snarling as he forced the police to fall back._

"… _Parisians do not get a break! Two weeks after the fall of the Eiffel tower and the disappearance of Ladybug, another Akuma attack sends citizens running for cover! As of right now, the Akuma leads a band of what could only be described as Vikings through downtown France! Slowly but surely making their way to hospital Cognac-Jay! The police are doing all they can to keep the Akuma's minions at bay, but all will be lost if Paris' superheroes don't make an appearance."_

Instantly, all three teens jumped up, "I have to go." They all chorused, then looked at each other in surprise.

"I…uh…have a photoshoot…" Adrien said lamely.

"I have to go make sure my sisters are alright." Alya said, then looked at Nino.

"i…have to go…I just gotta go!" Nino said, giving Alya a quick kiss and running out.

"Well then…" Alya looked at Adrien, "we can't just leave, Marinette's expecting someone to be out here."

Adrien hesitated, looking at the news again.

 _This just in! one of the Paris' new superheroes, a young man going by the name of Jade Turtle is fighting the Akuma!"_

 _The camera panned and showed the Jade Turtle fighting several of the Akuma's minions, his Tonfa's smashing the skeletons to pieces._

"look, I'll be back as soon as I make sure my sisters are ok." Alya said, "promise, besides, I'm pretty sure your photo shoot is canceled."

"yeah…alright, I'll stick around here, at least until I'm sure Marinette can get out okay."

"thank you Adrien!" Alya said, charging out of the room, Adrien just sighed and sat down.

"Don't worry," Plagg whispered from his pocket, "Vixen and Turtle got this covered."

"right…I guess I'll be here as last line of defense huh?" Adrien said, walking into the bathroom, "so let's make these people feel safe, Plagg, Claws out!"

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turtle ducked under a spear jab, hitting the weapon out of the way with a tonfa's before slamming his fist into its head, knocking it clean off and making the skeleton crumble to the ground.

"yo, shell head!" Vixen shouted, jumping down from a building and landing right beside him, "what the hell are these?"

"well I'm assuming that they're skeleton warriors." He said, kicking one back while Vixen hit one in the chest with her flute.

"don't get smart with me." she snapped.

"want me to dumb it down a bit?" he asked, ducking as Vixen swung at him, hitting a skeleton in the process.

"you are infuriating!" she snapped as she jumped on top of a car and started to play her flute, conjuring images of hundreds of her and turtle charging at the skeletons, they simply walked through them, unfazed by the illusions, "what!?"

"I don't think Skeletons have brains." Turtle said, jumping over one and landing on another, "So no illusions."

"Crap." Vixen muttered, jumping back into the Fray, "where's the guy controlling these things!?"

"he's still going towards the hospital! Every time I get close the damn Skeletons rush me!"

"Damn, well we need to get in front of him!"

Turtle thought about it, "I have an idea." He said, jumping away from the skeletons and putting his tonfa's together to reform his shield, "jump on the shield." He shouted.

"what?!"

"just do it!"

Vixen groaned and jumped at the shield, as soon as her feet touched, she felt Turtle tensing up, and instantly she knew what was going on, she bent her knees and jumped at the same time that Turtle flung his shield with all his might, sending both the shield and her flying straight for the Viking Akuma, who was too busy concentrating on his march to the hospital to notice the streak of orange and green shooting towards him until he got a face full of boot, sending him flying into an adjacent building.

"that's what you get!" she shouted angrily as the skeletons around her faltered in their attacks. "hmm…Turtle! Get over here!"

"trying!" Turtle snapped, dodging the weapons as he tried to make his way towards Vixen.

"I'll give you a hand!" she shouted, throwing his shield back to him and turning around to attack the Akuma, who was now back on his feet and pissed.

He was a large man, heavy set and bulging with muscles, he had a full beard, leather armor, and a helmet with an aventail, in his hands he carried two tomahawks, which glinted wickedly as he twirled them.

"I AM HEATHEN!" he snarled, "and all of Paris will know that the Erikson homestead will not be encroached upon!"

"if you want to stop encroachment on your homestead, then why don't you STAY ON YOUR HOMESTEAD!" Vixen snapped, running and jumping at him.

Heathen easily kicked her away, "I have to send a message." He growled, "and I have to help my grandfather, if you get in my way, I will kill you."

Vixen crouched low as she brought her Flute to her lips and started playing, once more she called forth thousands of copies of her, and then set them upon Heathen, who confusedly started swinging his tomahawks erratically in an attempt to ward them off, as he did this, the skeletons grew confused, staggering around and swinging at nothing, allowing Turtle to run over to Vixen, "what the hell did you do?" he asked.

"if you can get Heathen off balance." She croaked out, "it throws his minions into confusion; so if we keep him off balance-"

"-we can keep those skeletons from causing anymore chaos." He said.

"right and-" she stopped as Turtle jumped in front of her, his shield up as a tomahawk slammed into it with a dull thud.

"stand and fight!" Heathen snarled as his Skeletons ran towards the hospital.

"we have to stop those skeletons." Vixen said, slowly standing up.

"we won't be getting anywhere near them with this guy in the way." Turtle said, kneeling down and picking up the tomahawk, "which means we need to defeat the Akuma and purify it."

"and how do we do that?" Vixen asked angrily as they both circled Heathen, who glared at them.

"if I can get my hand around the akumatized item, it'll purify the butterfly inside." Turtle said, "it'll change him back, but it won't repair the damage."

"then let's find the damn object." Vixen grumbled.

"enough talk!" heathen snarled, charging straight at Vixen, who jumped back as Turtle ran in front of her, hitting Heathen back with his shield and swinging his stolen Tomahawk at heathen, who hit it to the side and attempted to take turtles head off, only for Vixen to kick him in the head and sending him crashing into a wall.

"keep him off balance." Vixen said.

"I know! God you're bossy."

'and you're annoying, let's just get this done!"

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the hospital staff watched in horror as skeleton Viking warriors crashed through the glass doors.

"barricade the doors!" a doctor shouted, "don't let them near the patients!"

as the nurses ran to carry out these orders, the Skeletons got closer to the door, their movements slow and choppy.

"hey! Boneheads!" Chat shouted, crashing into the room and slamming his baton into the first three, scattering their bones all over the waiting room, "I have a bone to pick with you guys."

the skeletons focused their attention on Chat, charging at him as one, occasionally faltering, Chat quickly started to fight them, his baton twirling through the air with deadly precision. It hit weapons to the side and crumpled skeletons into a pile of bones.

"Chat Noir!" the doctor shouted, "are you alright!?"

Chat kicked a skeleton into the wall, "I'm fine! Make sure those patients are safe!"

the doctor nodded and ran down the hall while Chat tried to push the skeletons back.

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"this isn't working!" Turtle shouted, blocking yet another attack from Heathen.

"have you located the object yet!?" Vixen asked, jumping over heathen and kicking him in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"If I had, we wouldn't still be fighting!" Turtle snapped, running at Heathen and slamming his shield into the large Vikings face over and over again, looking over the man's clothes and armor until something caught his eye, it was a worn wooden tobacco pipe, something that didn't look like it belonged on a Viking, "Found it!" he shouted, slamming his shield into the pipe.

"NO!" Heathen shouted, trying to get up, only for Vixen's stilettoed heel to come down and pin him to the floor as Turtle jumped up and caught the akumatized butterfly, bright light shone in his hand as his miraculous cleansed the butterfly, he let it go with a smile, watching it fly away.

Underneath Vixen, heathen was engulfed in a purple/black cloud, when it faded, it left a back to normal Gregor, looking up in confusion at Vixen, "I…how did I…when…?"

Vixen took a few steps back, "long story short, you were akumatized." She said, "But we saved you."

"oh…okay…' he stood up, then his eyes widened, "I…I don't know if it's bad or not…but last thing I remember was being at my grandfather's farm, and…there was a corporate agent there…Monsieur LaMarque…I can't remember if I…hurt him…"

"I'll check it out." Vixen said, looking at Turtle, who was already starting to walk away, "Turtle! You going without even saying good bye? What a gentleman."

"well sorry," he said, "But that little purification thing just wiped out my miraculous, so if I don't leave…"

"say no more, say no more, later loser." She said, turning back to Gregor, "If you want, I can take you back to the farm, that way we know for sure that everyone is fine."

"n-no…I have to check…I have to check on my grandfather…"

Alya nodded, "good luck," she said, taking off across Paris.

Gregor sighed and looked towards the now damaged hospital, he squared his shoulders and walked towards it.

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Adrien sighed as he picked up an overturned chair and sat down in it, it had been a stroke of luck when all of the skeletons had disintegrated around him, only another moment or two and he would've been overwhelmed, as soon as they disappeared, he quickly followed suit, powering down his miraculous and running back in to make sure he was there when they let Marinette and the others come out.

"things will be different now…won't they?" a quiet voice said, making Adrien look up, a nurse was standing a few feet away from him, looking at the damage. "usually…Ladybug would fix all the damage…and Paris would just continue going on…but…she's gone…and now the damage will take months if not years to fix…"

"she'll come back." Adrien said firmly, making the nurse look at him, "she's never let us down before."

the nurse sighed, "I hope you're right…if you want to go back there to check on your friend, you're more than welcome too, can't exactly enforce rules right now."

"thank you." Adrien said, walking in and making his way towards Marinette's room, which was easy to find because of Bridgette.

"I'm tellin' ya! If any kind of Akuma comes in here then I'll open up a can of whoop ass!"

"hey," Adrien greeted, ducking when Bridgette turned around and tried to punch him, "whoa! Not an akuma!"

"whoops…sorry, hehe…." Bridgette apologized, turning red as Adrien looked around the room, Tom and Sabine were standing next to Marinette, who looked irritated.

"they won't let us leave until the 'all-clears' been given." Marinette grumbled.

"well, things are pretty much finished with the Akuma, so they'll probably let you go here in a bit." Adrien said. Giving her a smile.

Marinette sighed, "I just…want to get out of here…" she mumbled.

Adrien sat down in one of the few chairs in the room. "what did the doctor say?" Adrien asked quietly.

Marinette looked away, not wanting to speak.

"let's not talk about it." Bridgette suggested, "Not now at least."

Adrien felt his shoulders sag, _that means bad news…_ he thought.

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Vixen looked around the farm that Gregor had directed her too, the ground was gouged and dug up, and there was a black car that had been overturned in the fields, "Monsieur LaMarque?" she called, walking around, "Monsieur LaMarque!"

"over here…" a voice called out weakly, she looked around and found LaMarque tied to one of the fence posts, looking bruised, but otherwise unharmed.

"are you alright Monsieur?" she asked, untying him from the post.

"I'm fine…but Monsieur Martin…he's akumatized!"

"we got him taken care of." Vixen said kindly, helping him up.

LaMarque sighed as he looked at the damage. "guess Ladybug isn't back yet?" he asked, looking towards Paris, where smoke curled into the sky.

"no…and this one did a number on the city." Vixen said, looking around the farm, "So this is what he wanted to protect?" she asked, looking at the undisturbed fields and small copse of trees. "it really is nice."

LaMarque nodded, "and if it didn't mean my job, I'd keep this place as is." He said, limping towards his destroyed car, "thank you for helping me." he said, pulling the door open and grabbing his spare phone, "I should be fine now."

she gave him a small salute and took off. "now, let's get back to the hospital."

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"I won't walk again…"

Adrien looked up, he was sitting in Marinette's room, keeping her company while Bridgette was out, Marinette herself was in her bed, her back against the wall, she was looking out the window, her eyes slightly glazed.

"what?" Adrien asked, slowly standing up.

"what the doctors told me…they said I'd never walk again…" she mumbled, "they said my spine is completely separated between my L4 and L5 disks…no way to repair it…"

"Marinette…" he said softly, sitting down on her bed and putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry…'

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"It's not your fault." She mumbled, "in fact…I don't know whose fault it is…just…a horrible accident." She looked at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Adrien slowly put his arms around her as she started to cry, "I'm sorry Marinette." He whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Alya sat on her roof, looking out across the city of Paris.

"yo Alya," Nino said, walking up from behind her.

"nino? What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.

"Just thought I'd come see you." he said, sitting down next to her, "Crazy day, huh?"

"yeah…crazy day…" Alya agreed, leaning into him, "did you hear the news on Mari?"

Nino nodded, "I feel sorry for her." He said, "it can't be easy to get that kind of news."

Alya sighed, "I…I wish I could help her more…but…'

Nino put his arms around her. "she'll come out of this on top…somehow…"

"if only Ladybug could come back," Alya mumbled, "I'm sure that she could fix everything."

"don't think she's coming back anytime soon." He said. "we'll just have to cope as well as we can."

she looked back across the Paris skyline, "what if it never gets better?" she asked, "what if Hawkmoth just keeps trying until he makes Chat disappear? What if he hurts other people?"

"then the other superheroes will step up and stop him." Nino said confidently.

"the other superheroes…the Jade Turtle!" she said, jumping up, making Nino almost fall off the roof.

"w-wha?"

"the Jade Turtle!" she exclaimed, "he's a healer! He might be able to help Marinette! He might be able to heal her!"

"I…I don't think so." Nino hesitated.

"what do you mean!?" Alya demanded.

"I mean…" he sighed, "we don't know what his limitations are…might be prudent to ask him first."

Alya looked away, "I guess you're right…but still, if he can help her…"

"yeah…if…"

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Gabriel sank into his chair, holding his head as pain coursed through it.

"you're stretching yourself too far master." Nooroo said, flying up to his face, "this last Akuma was almost as powerful as the one that destroyed the Eiffel tower."

"it's what needs to be done." Gabriel grumbled, not looking up, "I already have Ladybug's Miraculous, all I need is Chat's, and then-"

"and then what?" Nooroo prodded, "you know that this endeavor only has a small chance of working-"

"-and I owe her that small chance!" Gabriel snapped, wincing as more pain coursed through him, "I owe her that small chance for life…just like I owe my son that chance…that chance to see his mother again."

"and what happens when that chance ends up killing you?" Nooroo asked, landing onto the desk, "what happens when your wife comes back, and finds you dead?"

Gabriel deflated, "that won't happen." He muttered, "and if it does, then good riddance!"

"Master…" Nooroo started softly.

"I was supposed to die that day Nooroo," Gabriel said, standing and walking to his window, "and now, what I'm doing, is righting a wrong."

"master- "

"get some rest Nooroo," Gabriel muttered, walking out of the room, "we have a busy day tomorrow.'

"Yes…Master…"


	6. Chapter 6

"What do you mean you can't heal her?" Vixen asked Turtle as they stood atop city hall, it was after the days patrol and Vixen had forced the young healer to talk with her about the matter that he had seemed to be dodging for the past week.

"I mean I can't." turtle said, turning his back to her, "my powers aren't that strong."

"do you even know the extent of your powers?" she growled, crossing her arms, "I'm talking about giving a girl the use of her legs back! Don't you think that's worth trying?"

"I can't do it." He said again.

"if you're doing this just to spite me-"

"I'm not!" he snapped, turning around, glaring at her, "I talked to my Kwami about this already, he said that the damage is too extensive, that to even get her to be able to get feeling in her legs would take months, if not years!" his shoulders sagged, "the power to heal, and I can't even help one of my friends…"

"she's your friend?" Vixen asked quietly, uncrossing her arms.

He nodded, "we aren't close…but she's important to a lot of people…so I had asked my Kwami about it…but he said that he couldn't fix it, only ladybug's or chat noir's miraculous can do that…and…well you know…"

"we can't give up our miraculous on a whim." Vixen mumbled.

He sighed, "I wish I could help her…" he said, "but I can't…I'm sorry.' And with that he jumped off the roof, disappearing into the night and leaving Vixen to her own devices.

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Marinette looked at the bakery as Alya and Bridgette got out of the car.

"home sweet home!" Bridgette exclaimed, looking at the bakery.

"yeah…home…" Marinette mumbled, looking down.

Alya put an arm around her, "things will get better." She said.

Marinette smiled, 'yeah…they will." She said with as much confidence as she could muster.

Alya smiled, "come on, let's get you inside." She said, pushing Marinette up to the bakery while Bridgette started pulling Marinette's bag out.

"Yeah, go ahead, leave me with the unpacking, I'm just a side character anyways."

Alya raised her eyebrow at Bridgette, who just shrugged and started unpacking.

"okay…let's get you inside." She said, pushing Marinette into the bakery, where her parents were waiting.

"hey sweetie." Tom said, kissing her forehead.

"hey dad." Marinette greeted with a smile, looking around the bakery, several people were inside, waiting for their orders while helpers went to and fro to get their orders ready.

"the bakery's a little busy at the moment," Sabine said softly as Alya pushed her through to the kitchen, "but as soon as it calms down, we'll go upstairs, okay?"

"okay Maman." Marinette said as Alya pushed her up to the stairs, where a high tech platform sat in wait.

"let's get upstairs Mari," Alya said, pushing her onto the platform, "I'm sure you just can't wait to get up there."

"yeah…I can't wait." She said, a small smile gracing her lips as Alya locked her wheelchair in place and pressed a button, soon she was being lifted up the steps, with Alya following closely behind,

"I can't wait to see your face when we get up there." She said with a snicker.

"why? Did you and Birdy decorate my room or something?"

"no, I just know there's some…decorations up there that'll blow your mind." She said with a laugh

Marinette looked at her weirdly as they finally got up to her room, her eyes widened as she saw the pictures that plastered parts of her wall, all of them were of Adrien, "what…is this…"

"well, this is your wall of love." Alya snickered, "a dedication to your complete devotion to a certain blond model."

"this…did…did you do this?" she asked, clenching the armrests of her chair so hard that her knuckles were turning white.

"No," Alya said, looking at her in concern, "you put these up over the course of a year, because you love Adrien."

Marinette shook her head, "This isn't love…" she muttered, "This is…this is obsession…"

"Mari, come on- "

"take them down." She said, turning her wheel chair around as her head started to pound.

"Mari- "

"I said take them down!" she snapped, making Alya jump, "Please…" she said quietly, looking down, "just…just take them down…"

Alya slowly walked up to Marinette and put a hand on her shoulder, "okay girl…I'll take them down…" she said, turning back around and going to take down the pictures, when she was done she threw them all away and looked at her vanity, "hey…isn't this the box you keep your diary in?" she asked, pointing at the wooden pink box.

"I…don't remember," she said, scrunching her eyebrows up, wheeling over and looking at the box, "if it is, I don't know where the key would be."

"I bet I could bust it open." Alya said with a mischievous grin.

"Please don't burn down my room trying to open a box."

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"Damn bag, come out already!" Bridgette groaned, pulling on one of Marinette's larger bags, trying, and failing, to pull it out, "come on! I want to go see her room!"

"Do you…need help?" a hesitant voice asked from behind her.

"nope! I'm pretty sure I got it-" she stopped talking as her grip slipped and she fell back, crashing into whoever was standing behind her, she felt a pair of strong arms stop her from completely falling against the ground.

"you were saying?" he said dryly, helping her to stand back up straight.

"hehe…guess I don't got it, I'll take that help now…pretty…" she said, finding herself trailing off as she looked at the man who stood behind her, he wore an immaculate suit, pressed and ironed, his hair was long, but was combed back, his bluish gray eyes were cold and calculating, but showed a slight glimmer of amusement at Bridgette's behavior.

"let's see if I'll have better luck at this then you." he said, walking past her and gripping the bag, with careful precision he was able to pull it out and place it delicately on the sidewalk, "there, wasn't so hard." He said, looking back at Bridgette, who was still staring at him.

"you…um…thank you." she said shyly, picking up the bag.

He shrugged, "It was no problem." He said, putting his hands in his pockets, "I bid you a good day, mademoiselle." He started to walk away.

"Name!" Bridgette blurted out, making the man turn around.

'Excuse me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"w-what's your name?" she asked, "I-I'm Bridgette Cheng," she held her hand out, "a-and you are?"

he looked at her hand, then hesitantly took it, "Felix Agreste." He said.

"Agreste? As in…Adrien?" she asked in surprise.

"yes…" he said cautiously. "why?"

"well, my little cousin is actually friends with him." She said, "I think more than friends…but I didn't think he had an older brother…or cousin, or…never mind." She mumbled, turning red.

"cousin."

"what?" Bridgette asked, looking up.

"I'm his cousin," he said, turning to walk away, "see you around, Ms. Cheng."

Bridgette watched him walk away, as soon as he was a couple of blocks away, she let out an excited squeal and jumped up and down.

"oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" she said, picking up the bag and ran up the stairs and into Marinette's room, "Marinette! I just met the most gorgeous and sophisticated man ever!"

"what?" Marinette asked, looking at Bridgette, Alya glanced back at her as she put the posters in the trash.

"I was trying to get your last bag out, and I fell back, and some guy stopped me from hitting the ground, then he helped me get the bag out and he was so serious and aloof and- "

"Birdy, calm down." Marinette said, cutting her off, "you're talking so fast I can barely understand you."

"yeah, take it step by step girl," Alya said with a snicker.

"Okay, okay, I was taking the bags out of the car."

"yes," Marinette nodded.

"I was having trouble when pulling out that last duffle bag."

"right," Alya hummed, smirking at Marinette who giggled quietly.

"and I started falling, because the bag was stuck and I slipped and fell back," she said, "and right before I hit the ground, some blond guy caught me! and then he helped me get the bag out, and then he told me that his name was Felix Agreste!"

"Agreste?" Alya echoed, "what is it with your family and the Agreste's Marinette?"

Marinette blushed, "don't ask me," she said defensively.

"he's his cousin! And he said he'd 'see me around!'" she squealed.

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "did he give you a number?"

"nope!" she said cheerfully, "but I'm sure I'll see him around."

"gotta love her optimism." Alya commented.

'should we tell her?" Marinette asked,

"Nah, she'll figure it out soon enough."

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Marinette looked out her window, watching the Paris skyline as night slowly took over the day, Alya and Bridgette had already gone home, leaving Marinette alone with her thoughts.

"Marinette, sweetie, are you hungry?" Sabine asked, poking her head into her daughter's room.

"I'm fine Maman…" she said softly.

"are you sure? Bridgette said you haven't eaten since yesterday night.

"I'm just not hungry," she said.

Sabine walked fully into her room and walked over to her daughter, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I know all this news is difficult to handle…" she whispered, "but we're here for you Marinette, for whenever you want to talk…"

she smiles a little, "thank you Maman." She said.

Sabine gave her a peck on the cheek and put a plate of food on her vanity, "when you get hungry, there's food here."

"thank you Maman." She said as her mother walked downstairs, closing her trapdoor.

Marinette closed her eyes for a few seconds, willing herself to take steady breaths as tears slowly welled up in her eyes, leaking out of the corners of her eyes and trailing down her cheeks, after a few moments she let out a choked sob and let her head fall into her hands, she sobbed and cried until she slowly fell into a troubled sleep.

 _...Princess, why are you so anxious?" Chat Noir asked, leaning against her chair, looking at her in concerned._

" _I just…I don't know." She said as she walked around a familiar red gown, "I guess I'm just nervous about this contest, I mean…I would give anything to work under the great Gabriel Agreste, even as his coffee goffer! If I don't win this…"_

"you will win this," Chat said with a grin, jumping up and walking around her gown, "I mean, this gown is Clawsome! You'll doo purretty good."

 _She rolled her eyes, "again with the puns chat?" she groaned good naturedly. "you know I hate them."_

" _aw Purrincess, you wound me!" he said dramatically, draping himself on the chaise, "what will I do without your approval!"  
_

 _she flicked his forehead and giggled, "drama queen." She chastised..._

 _..._

 _...Flying over the rooftops of Paris, her yoyo flying out and latching onto chimney's and poles, allowing her to swing from street to street, completely free, beside her Chat Noir ran across the rooftops, flipping over alleyways and sky lights, flashing her a toothy smile that somehow made her heart skip a beat,_

" _race you to the top of the tower!?" Chat called to her as they stopped for a rest._

" _you're on Chaton," she said with a grin as she took off once more, Chat Noir chasing after her with a happy yell..._

 _..._

..." _Chat! Where are you!?"  
_

" _you're all alone bug."_

" _she's not alone, my wayward disciple."_

"no matter how hard you fight me, no matter how many times you push me back, I WILL GET MY REVENGE!"

" _Ladybug now! While he's distracted!"_

"help me up!"

"NO!"

Marinette woke up with a cry of panic, her entire body tensed and alert, she looked around and slowly reassured herself that she was in her room, she slowly untense and looked out the window, it was now close to the morning, with the sun just barely starting to peak out from behind the buildings. She felt her head pound with new information that had flooded into her that night, she could also feel the pain start to sprout from her back, informing her that the day coming would be full of pain and misery.

But she felt a small light of hope spring up in her chest, because for once, after almost four weeks of forgetting her nightmares and dreams, she finally remembered something, so with as much speed as she could muster, she wheeled herself over to vanity and pulled out a blank notebook and began to write, writing down every detail she could remember even as pain coursed through her body and made her hand feel like it was moving through broken glass.

 **one hour later**

Adrien slowly walked into Marinette's room with a plate of food, after getting permission from her parents to see her, he had been prepared to wake her up and coax her to eat some food.

What he had not been prepared for, was to find Marinette sitting in her chair, tensed and wincing every now and then as she wrote on a notepad.

'Mari?" Adrien asked in concern, putting the food down on the desk "why are you already in your chair? Your parents thought you'd still be asleep."

'I…I woke up a couple of…of hours ago." She said, her sentence halted as the all too familiar pain coursed through her, "I…I just need to…to write this down."

"Write what down?" he asked, looking at the notepad.

"Memories." She said frantically, "I…I remembered things last…last night and…and…and I woke up and started writing…them down…" tears slowly started to trail down her cheeks.

"Marinette, you're in pain, you need to stop." He said, gently trying to stop her hand.

"I can't!" she said stubbornly, ripping her hand away from him, only to cry out in pain as the sudden movement made harsh pain shoot through her entire body.

"be careful Mari!" he said urgently.

"why!?" She snapped, "I can't hurt myself anymore then I am now!"

"Mari-" he started, only for her to cut him off.

"my legs are useless now," she said, her voice quivering, "the 'feeling' I had in them, was phantom pain! I'll never be able to use them, to feel them, they'll be useless! A waste of space!" she shook her head, despite the pain that coursed through her, "just like me…" she croaked out.

"Mari…" Adrien whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder as she sobbed.

"I-I-I don't want-want to be useless…" she sobbed, "I can barely even move myself around my own room, I can barely even remember my own life! And…and…and I don't want to forget, I can't forget! Not again! So I have to write, I have to make sure I remember…" she stopped talking as Adrien carefully put his arms around her, running a hand through her hair and humming the lullaby.

"you won't forget," he whispered to her as she started to calm down, her entire body shaking as she started to feel the pain, "we'll help you keep it…" he carefully picked her up and carried her over to her bed, laying her down on top of the covers.

"I have to keep writing.' She said weakly.

"no, you need to relax." He chastised her, "you need to eat," he carefully walked over to the plate of food and brought it back to her, "and more importantly." He walked up to her vanity and picked up the notebook along with the pen, "you need to tell me what you remembered, so I can write it down."

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Alya sat with Officer Roger as he played security footage from all over the city.

"we've reviewed the tapes Mlle. Sinclair." He said, "most of the cameras were destroyed during the battle between Ladybug and this Akuma, even the ones that were nowhere near the fighting."

"that means someone purposefully sabotaged them." Alya said, rubbing her temples, "but who? Who would do that?"

"well, if what you say is true, then maybe it was hawkmoth." Roger said.

"but wouldn't we have seen when he destroyed them? all we get is clear days and then suddenly, static."

Roger sighed, "your guess is as good as mine," he said, walking out, "I'll give you a little longer in here, just yell when you're done."

She nodded and continued to study the tapes, watching several at once, "come on, there has to be something…" she mumbled, going to a view of hotel le Grande Paris, she watched the feed on the night before the akuma attack, "Now what's this?" she muttered, watching as a black motorcycle roared up to the front doors, the rider parked and took his helmet off, letting long brown hair spill out, his green eyes scanned the front of the hotel as he leaned against his bike and reaching into his worn leather jacket to pull a pack of cigarettes out.

"there's no way…" she whispered as she watched the video, after a couple of minutes a very familiar blonde came storming out of the building; her hair was undone and looked slightly frazzled, and her normally disapproving eyes held an emotion that Alya couldn't place, she started a conversation with the biker; who's facial expression went from happy, to confused, to angry, soon he was shouting at her and pointing at the hotel angrily, only for Chloe to shake her head and turn around, storming inside and closing the door; the biker attempted to follow her, only for the doorman to roughly push him back. He turned and walked away, his eyes alight with anger and pain; and, just as the footage cut, Alya spotted a purple butterfly gliding towards him as he revved his engine.

"Officer Roger!" Alya called, rewinding the video until she had a good angle on his face.

"yes Mlle. Sinclair?" he asked, looking at the video.

"Do you know who this man is?" she asked, pointing to the screen.

He squinted, 'hmm…looks like the American guy that frank arrested about three weeks back." He said, "hey frank!" he called, making the officer come up to him.

"yes boss?"

"isn't that the kid you arrested three weeks back? During the whole fiasco with the Eiffel tower?"

the man squinted at the video, "yeah, that's him, guy was arrested for trespassing at a crime scene, resisting arrest, and assault on a public servant." He rubbed his jaw, "guy had a solid right hook too."

Alya took a shaky breath, "you arrested the Akuma victim that destroyed the tower." She said, making both officers look at her in surprise.


	7. Chapter 7

Alya sat nervously at a café, waiting alongside Nino for the teen that had been arrested by Officer Roger.

"so they actually arrested an akuma victim?" Nino asked, "what the hell is going on with Paris now?"

"they didn't know he was the akuma victim, to them, he was just a guy walking around a crime scene and punching cops in the face."

Nino giggled at that, making Alya roll her eyes with a smile, her smile disappeared as she heard the roar of a motorcycle, she looked out the window as an old Harley Davidson rolled to a stop by the café, the person riding it put the kickstand down and took off his helmet, letting his long brown hair free, he unzipped his brown duster and walked into the café, his green eyes looking around boredly.

"are you Warren Pierce?" Alya asked, standing up.

he nodded, looking at her, "you must be the girl who got me outta that jail, right?"

"yes, I'm Alya Sinclair, this is my boyfriend Nino,"

"Sup bro," nino said, giving him a little wave.

He nodded to him, "So, Officer Roger told me that I had to talk to you about something?"

"yes," Alya said, "we wanted to talk about your akumatization,"

"Akumati-what?" he asked in confusion.

Alya sighed, "are you knew to France?"

he nodded slightly, "only been in country for a few months, never had any problems with akunamatata."

"this isn't the lion king." Nino said, "we're asking about Akuma's, you know, the things that have been terrorizing Paris for the past year and a half?"

"been kinda isolated these past few years." Warren said, sitting down, "only got here on a scholarship in May."

"end of April was the last akuma attack before the Eiffel tower incident." Alya mumbled.

"Eiffel tower incident…' he mumbled, "I remember that…tower almost fell right on top of me."

"It did?" Alya asked, leaning forward.

He nodded, "woke up on the ground right underneath the damn thing, one second everything's being held together by some kind of wire, next thing I know shits' crashing down around me, barely got out of there intact."

"do you remember anything before waking up?" Alya asked.

He shook his head, "it's…fuzzy…real fuzzy, I remember leaving a hotel…then…fighting something…but…I can't remember what I was fighting…" he groaned, 'sorry, just can't seem to recall anything."

"happens when you get akumatized." Nino said, "lucky you remember just a little bit, I don't remember anything at all from when I got akumatized.'

"you mean you've been an…akuma?" he asked.

"yup, sorta like a club at the local college." Nino said, "almost everyone's been akumatized, even Alya.'

"that wasn't pleasant." She muttered.

Warren shook his head, "so now what?" he asked, "we all gonna get together and sit in chairs like some fuckin' AA meeting or some shit?"

"most of us don't talk about being akumatized." Alya said, "It's kinda taboo around here."

'then why you talking to me about it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"you were the last Akuma that Ladybug faced, she disappeared after fighting you."

"so, you're trying to find this…Ladybug, by talking to me." he murmured, "Well sorry, I don't have any answers for ya, I'm still trying to get some answers myself."

Alya watched him carefully, then asked, "what do you know about Chloe bourgeois?"

Instantly Warren's expression turned sour, "don't know nothin'," he muttered, leaning back.

"Really? because before you got akumatized, you and her had a bit of an argument."

he glared at her, "i don't know nothin',' he said again, standing up, "and I don't think I have to tell you shit."

"Wait!" she started, standing up, "you're the only person we know who has a connection to Ladybugs disappearance."

he sighed, "I wish I could help you, but I can't," he started walking out, "good luck you guys."

Alya slowly sat down, "now we have no leads." She muttered.

Nino put his hand on her shoulder, "you knew it was a long shot," Nino said, "lets just keep looking, maybe find another video someone took."

"no one was awake during the fight," Alya said, "all the traffic and security cameras were down during the fight, we have nothing."

"but that won't stop you from combing the city, huh?" Nino asked.

"no, I'll find something, even if it kills me."

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Adrien watched Marinette as she slept, slowly tapping his fingers against the notebook in his hands, "Plagg…" he mumbled.

"yeah kid?" the Kwami asked, slowly flying out of his pocket.

"she's ladybug…and you knew all along, didn't you?"

Plagg nodded solemnly, "I couldn't tell you…"

"Why?" Adrien demanded, "you knew I was searching for her, that I was out of my mind with worry, and you couldn't tell me it was Marinette?"

"kid, I'm bound by ancient laws, I can't tell you her identity no matter what, the only person who can tell you Ladybug's identity, is Ladybug, I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't…"

Adrien looked at Marinette, sleeping peacefully, "how did this happen…" he muttered. "how did Ladybug lose her earrings? How did she defeat this akuma, what the hell happened that day?" he looked at her, "and how can she talk about being ladybug, but not believe she's ladybug?"

"plausible deniability kid," Plagg said, "her time as ladybug is so outrageous that she just believes it was all a dream."

"but it wasn't! how can we convince her it wasn't…'

Plagg settled into Adrien's hair, "she needs to remember…which means we need to talk to Wayzz and his chosen."

"I thought you said they couldn't heal her?"

"they can't, but they might be able to fix her amnesia." Plagg looked down at the girl, "it's a long shot, it might not even work, but if she knows who Hawkmoth is…"

"then we can get Tikki back and fix everything-"

"including her injuries.' Plagg finished.

"So what? Should we go to them on the next patrol?"

"no, we need to talk them outside of patrol, and soon."

"but how are we going to find them?"

"it'll drain me, and you, but if I can assume my full power for at least a couple of minutes, then I'll be able to locate and establish communication with Wayzz."

"why don't we just do that with Hawkmoth?" he asked.

"because I'm establishing a connection, if I were to try and locate Hawkmoth like that, he'd instantly know, and be able to find us, it's not worth the trouble, and the danger."

Adrien was about to reply before he heard a slight gasp from Marinette, Plagg quickly shot into his pocket as Marinette's eyes shot open in pain.

"Marinette, are you alright?" Adrien asked worriedly, kneeling next to her bed.

"I-I'm fine…just pain..." she struggled out.

Adrien carefully took her hand into his, "I wish I could help." He whispered to her softly.

"you help enough." She murmured, squeezing his hand as more pain coursed through her body.

He let his head hang a bit as he brought her hand up, gently kissing the knuckles, "not nearly enough." He mumbled.

"what do you mean?" Marinette asked.

"I…I feel like I could do more for you…"

"Adrien…you help me when I'm in pain, you sit with me all day, and make sure I eat, you do so much for me…" she sighed carefully intertwining her fingers with his, "you're my rock." She whispered, "the one person that keeps me hopeful through all of this."

Adrien smiled softly, "I'm glad I mean so much to you." he whispered.

Marinette closed her eyes, "I won't be able to start school this year…"

Adrien looked at her in surprise, 'Why?"

"I'm starting to have more bad days then good," she mumbled, "the pain makes it unbearable to even get up sometimes…and I can't go to school like that, walking on eggshells.

"then I'll bring you your work every day," Adrien said, "write an extra set of notes for you, everything."

"you don't have to do that-" she started to say.

"yes I do," he interrupted her, "yes, I do…because you're one of the only things that makes getting up in the morning worth it."

Marinette slowly sat up, wincing at the lingering pain, she carefully put her arms around Adrien, "just a couple of broken spirits," she whispered, "trying to keep each other together."

"Trying and succeeding." Adrien said softly, wrapping his arms around her, "Marinette, you need to get some more sleep."

"I know…but I don't want to sleep…"

"but you need to." He said.

She put her head down, "could you…" she hesitated.

"what? What do you need?" he asked, leaning forward, "anything, you want me to do, I'll do it."

"Could you…could you lay with me?" she asked, a deep blush tinting her cheeks, "J-just until I go to sleep."

Adrien stared at her, too shocked to speak.

"y-you don't have to," she said, looking away, "I just…I don't want to be alone, and I'm sure that as soon as I fall asleep you'll leave… and I don't..." she stopped talking as he carefully crawled over her and laid down beside her over the covers, putting a hand over her comfortingly.

"I understand Mari." He said softly, "and if this is how you're gonna get to sleep, then I'm happy to oblige."

She let out a small sigh before turning around in the bed, snuggling up next to his chest, her cheeks still a heated red, "thank you…' she whispered.

"anything for you…princess…"


	8. Chapter 8

Fake smiles.

Chloe was a master at giving fake smiles, especially in public, it was something that she had to perfect, it was something she used hourly, when talking to her father, when talking to paparazzi, when talking to her one friend Sabrina, even when she was looking at her self in the mirror in the mornings.

Yes, fake smiles were her specialty.

And it was a fake smile that was plastered on her face as she walked out of the press conference her father had her attend with her.

"this whole Akuma business is really getting out of hand…" he muttered, "we need to do something…" he sighed and looked at Chloe, "go on to your room dear, I'll see you tonight."

 _no you won't,_ she thought, "okay daddy," she said with a cheerful smile that didn't reach her eyes as she walked towards the she got to the elevator she let her smile fall, _I wish he were still here…_ she thought to herself, only to shake her head to try and rid herself of that thought, _it's over, nothing will come of you and…him…_

she sighed and stepped into the elevator as the doors opened, before they could even close someone darted in, "what the-" she started as she saw Alya hit the hold button on the elevator, effectively stopping them between the first and second floor, "what the hell is your pro-" she started, only to stop as Alya punched her, hard.

"that was for Marinette," she said, grabbing Chloe by the front of her shirt and hauled her up.

"I had nothing to do with what happened to Marinette." Chloe mumbled thickly as blood spurted from her nose.

"don't give me that shit," Alya snapped, "you may want to pretend like you never had any part in anyone's akumatization, but we all know better." She pinned Chloe to the wall, "Me, Kim, Alix, Rose, Juleka, Nathanael, Mylene, Ivan, Sabrina, even Marinette's uncle Wang Cheng, you had a hand in all of them."

"so what…" she snapped, "what does this have to do with Marinette!?"

"it has everything to do with her!" Alya growled, "because your last victim is the one who brought the Eiffel tower down, Warren Peirce, name ring a bell?"

Chloe felt her insides grow cold at that name.

"I don't know what you did to him, but it was enough to fill him with so much rage that he actually attempted to kill you, and in the process he got my best friend hurt beyond repair, so you're going to tell me everything you know about that night, what you saw, what you said, what the freakin weather was, because you owe all of Paris so much."

Chloe slowly looked down, "let me go," she mumbled, it wasn't a command, and none of her usual bite was behind it, so Alya slowly released her grip on the other girls shirt, "Do you know what it's like to be the mayors daughter?"

'no, but it doesn't look all that bad considering how you treat people," Alya muttered, leaning against the wall.

"it's the only way I know," she defended herself, "all my life I've grown up knowing I could get anything I want, knowing that all I needed to do was threaten the right people and I'd get what I want." She reached up and wiped some of the blood away, wincing at the pain that went through her nose, "everything but my dad…he never made time for me unless it was because I stirred up some trouble."

"I'm sorry, I really am," Alya said with an eye roll, "but what does this have to do with Marinette? Or Warren for that matter."

"Warren was the first person I actually had to work to get what I wanted." Chloe said, crossing her arms, "I tried to boss him around, push him, he'd push right back, never taking any of my bullshit…" she let out a humorless laugh, "Can you believe he actually made me work? As in physical work? Made me work in a soup kitchen, a garden, all because I couldn't stay away from him…"

"so how did it come to you slapping him in the face and banning him from the hotel?" Alya asked, her gaze softening slightly.

"daddy didn't like him, and he forbade me from seeing him, and when I tried to convince him otherwise…he threatened to cut me off."

Alya pinched the bridge of her nose, "did you see any of the fight?" she asked.

"I saw…" she hesitated, looking around.

"come on Chloe," Alya said, "there's no camera's in this elevator, no one can get mad at you for saying what you saw."

Chloe sighed, "I heard a lot of the fight…the sound of that gun blowing chunks in the street…Ladybug trying to reason with him…then…I heard a new voice…one that sounded familiar, so I looked out the window and saw a man in a purple suit…he was fighting the Akuma and attempting to help Ladybug, after that the fight moved away from the hotel."

"so hawkmoth was there…" Alya mumbled, "is there anything you can tell me about him? What did he look like? Did he have a limp? did he speak with a lisp?"

Chloe sighed, "His face was covered by a mask, and his voice…it just sounded really familiar…deep…commanding…" she shook her head, "I didn't see much, I know he had a cane, but that's about it."

Alya groaned, "back to square one." She muttered, hitting the lobby button. "is there anything else you can think of?"

Chloe shook her head quietly.

Alya nodded, "thank you." she said as the door opened and she started walking out, "and…don't let your dad keep you from someone you really care about." And with that, Alya walked away, leaving a bloodied up Chloe alone in the elevator.

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Adrien stood on Marinette's balcony, watching as Plagg mumbled to himself.

"fifteen minutes…I'll have fifteen minutes to contact Wayzz…" Plagg murmured, "and it takes ten minutes for the transformation to finish…another three minutes to actually contact Wayzz…"

"so two minutes to actually tell him what's going on?" Adrien asked.

Plagg sighed, "okay…" he concentrated, a soft green glow surrounding him as he started to grow, his limbs grew longer and his fur went away, the whisker on his head disappeared and two more sprouted on his cheeks, he stood up straight as his spine grew, making him gasp slightly. He arched his back and let out a slight moan as his ribs cracked into place, finally the transformation stopped, leaving Plagg breathing heavily, looking down at his grubby brown trousers and his mocha skin, "It's been a while since I've been in this form." He muttered, flicking his black ears and letting his tail sway lazily behind him.

"you ready to do this?" Adrien asked softly.

"No," Plagg said, "but it's not like I got a choice, right?"

Wayzz happily munched away on a leaf of lettuce, watching as Nino fiddled with one of his mixes, "you're very talented." Wayzz said.

Nino chuckled, "anyone can put music together." Nino said, "it's not that much of a talent."

"but you're putting songs that you'd never think would go together, together, and making it sound very good."

Nino smiled, "you just gotta find out which songs complement each other." He said.

"may I make a request?"

"Sure thing little green dude, what's up?"

"could you mix some classical music with modern music? I do believe that is a challenge you haven't completed."

Nino thought about it, then cracked a grin, "challenge accepted amigo," Nino said, turning towards his laptop.

Wayzz smiled and shook his head, 'Just like my last chosen," he mused, taking another bite of his lettuce, then froze, the antenna on top of his head standing up. "Plagg…" Wayzz said softly.

"you say somethin?" Nino asked.

"we need to transform, now." Wayzz said, standing up.

"why?" Nino asked in concern, standing up.

"Plagg is contacting me, Chat Noirs Kwami, and if he's establishing a link, then that means we need to get going to help him, now transform and head to…the boulangerie patisserie?"

"That's Marinette's place!" Nino said in panic, jumping up, "Wayzz shells on!"

with a flash of green light. Nino transformed into the jade turtle, jumping out of his window and onto the rooftops, taking off across Paris as fast as he could until he got to Marinette's balcony, where he found Adrien collapsed against the wall, hugging something tightly to his chest, "Adrien!" he shouted, running over to his friend, "are you alright?"

"F-Fine," Adrien stuttered out, "Plagg used too much energy trying to contact Wayzz…I had to give him some of mine."

"Plagg…you're…you're Chat Noir?"

"yeah…"

"that's…dude…"

"yeah, yeah, Paris' golden boy is actually a leather-clad superhero," Plagg grumbled, poking his head out of Adrien's hands, "detransform so we can talk to Wayzz.

"uh...I thought that was…you know, a no no."

"under normal circumstances, but we're pretty far from normal right now." Plagg said dryly.

"right, uh…Wayzz, shells off."

With a bright flash of light, Nino changed back to his civilian attire, while Wayzz flew over to Plagg.

"you stupid cat!" Wayzz berated, "you know that ritual is only for emergencies."

"this is an emergency!" Plagg snapped as Adrien slowly got up, limping over to Nino.

"so…jade turtle huh?" Adrien asked nino.

"yeah…and Chat Noir…" nino scratched his head, "what…what are you doing at Marinette's place so late bro?"

"we found something out about Ladybug." Adrien said, sitting down on one of the chairs.

"really? did you guys find her?" Nino asked, looking very eager.

"yeah we did," Plagg said, lazily climbing up to Adrien's shoulder, "and that's why we need your help, she's lost her memories."

"well then let's heal her!" Nino said, looking at Wayzz, "we can heal amnesia right?"

"to an extent," Wayzz muttered, looking thoughtful, "it'll take several healing sessions, and it'll severely deplete my powers, but we can, so where's Ladybug?"

"Downstairs, sleeping." Adrien said, making Nino freeze up.

"Marinette…she's ladybug…"

Adrien nodded slightly.

Nino staggered back and leaned against the railing, "all this time…all this time…" he muttered.

"nino," Wayzz started.

"all this time, Ladybug was right here…" nino muttered, "and you knew, you knew Wayzz, and you wouldn't let me help her."

"I was under orders." Wayzz said.

"by who!" Nino snapped angrily.

"by the great guardian of the Miraculous." Wayzz said, shrinking a little when Nino shouted at him, "he told me I could not reveal her identity until Chat Noir revealed her," he flew up to Nino, "I really am sorry Nino, if it had been any other way, I would've told you."

Nino sighed, "what's the plan bro?" he asked Adrien.

"we're going to heal her, get her memories back," Adrien said, "she's already remembered a few things, but she doesn't even believe that half of them are real."

"so what, we just going to walkin and say, "hey Mari, you're ladybug, we're going to heal your mind!' she'll think we're crazy."

"we tell her that we're going to cure her amnesia," Plagg said, "as a favor that the jade turtle owes Adrien, when she gets her memories back, we'll explain everything, got it?"

"got it," Adrien and Nino chorused.

"you ready Nino?" Wayzz asked.

"yeah…sorry for uh…you know, snapping out you."

"I understand," Wayzz said, "you were mad, it's all forgiven."

"Cool…Wayzz, shells on."

Adrien looked away as Nino changed, "I'll go down first," Adrien said, "explain to her what's going on."

"alright bro, I'll wait here."

Adrien slowly climbed down into Marinette's room, looking at her sleeping form, "we can get on the right track to help her."

"yeah…lets wake her up kid." Plagg said, crawling into Adrien's pocket as Adrien walked over to Marinette.

"Mari," he whispered softly, "Mari…Princess, time to wake up now."

Marinette stirred slightly, "Hmm…Adrien?" she mumbled, opening her eyes, "what are you still doing here…what time is it?"

"it's two hours past midnight," he said, "and I…I have to tell you something."

"what is it?" she asked, slowly pushing herself up, "no offence, but I was having a restful sleep until you woke me up."

He smiled slightly, "I'm sorry," he said, "but this will only take a couple of minutes, okay?"

"okay…"

"So…I got in contact with a friend who owes me a favor," he said, "and…and he may be able to help you recover your memories."

Her eyes widened, "w-what?"

"he may be able to help you get your memories back."

"I…I can…I can get my memories back…" she whispered, looking at him, "but…but how?"

"you remember the Jade turtle right?" Adrien asked, "I did him a favor once, and I'm cashing it in, he says he can heal your amnesia, but it'll take a couple of sessions."

"can…can he heal my legs?" she asked quietly.

Adrien shook his head, "I'm sorry Princess," he said softly, gently cupping her cheek, "he says it's hard enough to heal your amnesia…"

Marinette closed her eyes, a tear slowly trailing down her cheek, "thank you…" she whispered, "thank you…"

"for what?" he asked quietly, "I can't give you your legs back…"

"but you can give me my memories," she said, slowly reaching up and putting a slender hand over his hand, "and that's one of the things I've wanted the most."

Adrien felt a tear slowly trail down his cheek, "I wish I could give you more…" he whispered.

"you've given me everything." She said back, slowly opening her eyes, she leaned forward and hesitantly kissed him, making Adrien stiffen up, he slowly reached up and put a hand on her hip as he returned the kiss, the two teens sat like that for a while, until Adrien slowly broke the kiss, "he's waiting on the roof…" he mumbled, touching his forehead against hers.

She nodded slightly, a deep blush dusting her cheeks.

"I'll…I'll be right back," he said, slowly standing up and walking towards her trap door.

"you just couldn't help yourself." Plagg whispered to Adrien as he climbed up to the trap door.

"oh shut up Plagg." He muttered, slowly pushing the trap door open, "come on in," he said to Turtle

"you sure you don't want me to give you two a couple more minutes?" Turtle asked, a grin on his face, "I could come back."

"just shut up and come in." Adrien said, blushing furiously as he climbed down, Nino jumping in after her.

"morning," Turtle said to Marinette, "so, you're the girl Adrien's always talking about, I can see the appeal."

"dude." Adrien whispered furiously as Marinette giggled.

"you're the jade turtle?" she asked, "funny, I pictured someone more…muscular."

"whoa, hold up, what do you mean muscular?" Turtle asked, flexing and posing, "I'm like, muscle man."

Adrien just laughed as Marinette rolled her eyes with a smile.

"now, let's get to healing, be the fourth time I've done this," Turtle said, gently putting his hands on Marinette's head and concentrated.

"your hands are freezing." Marinette mumbled.

"can't help that, sorry, just close your eyes and let my magic do its work." Turtle said as his hands started to glow, the glowing slowly intensified, making Adrien squint and look away.

"this is going to take longer than I thought…" Turtle muttered, "at least twelve more sessions…but by the eighth you'll start to get memories slowly returning."

"I…I see something…" Marinette mumbled, "I see…i…" she sighed as the glow disappeared, "I lost it…" she mumbled.

"that's okay," Turtle said gently, "It'll come back slowly, you just have to be patient." He took a step back, "whelp, I got about five minutes until I change back, so I'll see you guys later," he saluted and took off to the balcony.

Adrien smiled slightly, "weird guy." He said, slowly walking back over to Marinette, "but he's got a heart of gold."

Marinette hummed slightly, looking down at her legs.

"Marinette?" he asked, "what's wrong?"

"nothing," she said, looking back up at him, looking tired, but happy, "thank you, for this."

Adrien put his hand on her shoulder, "anything for you princess." He said softly.

She smiled and put a hand on his, "I really am tired," she said, "and I know it's asking a lot…but can you sit with me until I fall back to sleep.

Adrien sat down next to her, "Of course." he said softly.

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Gabriel Agreste slowly walked into his room, looking around to make sure no one was going to walk in on him, until finally he carefully entered a code and walked into the lair of Hawkmoth, where a small red Kwami was sitting in a gilded cage, glaring at him as he walked up to her.

"are you hungry?" he asked quietly.

She said nothing, just continued to glare at him.

"are you thirsty?" he asked, "you've been in here for quite a while."

she slowly turned away from him, looking at the wall.

Gabriel sighed, slowly kneeling down in front of the cage, "you have to understand," he whispered, "I have to do this, I need you and the Cat to bring someone very important back, and to do that…I have to do awful things," he shook his head, "I don't pretend to be a saint, nor do i expect you or anyone to ever forgive me, frankly I don't deserve it." He slowly stood up and turned around, about to walk out.

"you won't get Plagg." Tikki muttered, "he 'll fight tooth and nail to protect his kittens,"

"that's unfortunate." Gabriel said back, "I was hoping I'd be able to avoid further bloodshed…" he walked out and closed the door, leaving Tikki to look out the window.

"Plagg…" she whispered, "be ready…"

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Warren looked out the window of his hotel, slowly reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a silver flask, he looked at it, then unscrewed the top and took a drink, still looking outside.

A knock at the door made him turn around, putting the flask up as he walked over to the door, he looked through the eyehole and sighed, slowly opening the door, "Fu," he said, "hell of a time for you to pop up."

"hello my scholarship winner." Fu said with a smile as he entered, "I heard you had a small run in with the law."

warren instantly scratched the back of his head, "t-that's wasn't my fault," he muttered, "I…akuma…"

"Relax," Fu said with a smile patting his shoulder, "I know the dangers of Paris better than anyone, I simply came to inform you that I am moving you from this hotel, to an…old friends house out north of the city."

"so…I didn't lose my scholarship?" he asked warily.

"not at all," Fu said with a smile, "I just want to make sure you are okay."

Warren slowly nodded, "I'm okay," he muttered, "Just…I can't lose this scholarship."  
Fu nodded sagely, "I understand son," he said, "now, gather your things and come with me, I'll be taking you to the Martin farm house.'


	9. Chapter 9

Marinette looked out her window, absentmindedly playing with a small rubix cube in her hand, on her desk, a small folder of homework lay, half-finished.

"Marinette?" Alya asked, peaking her head into her room, "you alright?"

"I'm fine Alya," she said with a smile, looking back at her friend tiredly, "just taking a break."

"that's good, because I brought food," Alya sang, walking in with a tray.

"thank you," she said, taking it and setting it on her lap, "have you heard from Adrien today?"

"yeah, lover-boy gots himself a photoshoot today, but he said he'd come by after."

she smiled, a soft blush dusting her cheeks, "that's good." She said softly.

"what is going on between you two?" Alya asked in interest, "since last Monday you two have been…friendlier."

Her blush deepened, "it's nothing," she said, brushing a bang out of her eye, "he's…helping me."

"Mhmm…" Alya hummed, looking at her friend in amusement.

"what?" Marinette asked.

"I think your little crush on Adrien is starting to surface again." She said.

"w-what!" Marinette spluttered, "I-I don't have…" she stopped as the kiss the two shared sprang up in the back of her mind, 'I did kiss him…" she mumbled, mostly to herself, but Alya heard it.

"Whoa…what!?" Alya shouted, making Marinette jolt slightly, "you and Adrien kissed!?"

Marinette looked like a deer in headlights, "I…um…what? what are you talking about?"

"don't even try that!" Alya exclaimed, "I heard you loud and clear! Now spill, or else I'm calling Bridgette and you can explain it to both of us."

Marinette sighed, "okay, me and Adrien kissed,"

"details, I need details." Alya said, sitting down and crossing her legs.

"well, he woke me up about two in the morning- "

'what was he doing in your room at two in the morning?" Alya asked.

Marinette froze at that, "don't freak out," she started, "I was having another day of pain, and…well, I asked him to…you know stay with me until I fell asleep, he sings this lullaby…and it takes my mind off the pain."

"that's so cute!" Alya gushed, pulling her phone out, "keep going girl, why'd he wake you up at two in the morning?"

"well…he had a called a favor in from one of his friends," she said, "Jade turtle,"

"what!" she almost shrieked as Marinette shushed her.

"calm down Alya!" she whispered urgently.

"how is he friends with Turtle!?" she whispered fiercely.

"I don't know, all I know is that he called in a favor that Turtle owes him," Marinette said, "and turtle, well, he said he could help me remember."

"he can? What about your legs? Can he help that?"

she shook her head, "he said he couldn't, that it would take too long." She sighed, "hell, he said that it would take twelve healing sessions just to even get close to bringing my memories back."

Alya deflated a little, "well, getting your memories back, that's great right?" Alya asked with a smile.

"yeah…we've had four sessions so far," Marinette said, "and I'm starting to get small snippets back…"

"what've they been about?" she asked, leaning in.

"well, I remember us going to the movies and seeing Adrien…I remember the derby competition…I remember…" she stopped short as she thought about the small things she did as ladybug, swinging through the streets Paris next to Chat Noir, "I-I remember helping my mother bake cakes and cookies…"

"well I'm glad you're getting healed girl," Alya said warmly, "and Bridgette's happy that you're getting it in with your crush."

"w-w-w-what!?" Marinette squeaked out, turning red as Alya laughed and held up her phone, showing the texts she had been shooting to Bridgette, "A-Alya! We're not…he's not…you're…ugh!"

Alya laughed, "I didn't tell her you two were doing it, but she is happy that you two are, quote unquote, "together"."

Marinette groaned, "Now I'm never gonna hear the end of it."

Alya continued to laugh. "oh yeah." She said, nudging her friend softly, "it's gonna keep coming up until you two get married."

"Alya!" Marinette exclaimed, turning a bright red, "there's…it's not…"

"Calm down, I'm just teasing." She said with a laugh. "sheesh, you need to relax."

Marinette took a deep breath, "you seem to like making me freak out." Marinette muttered.

"it's funny when you get worked up." Alya teased as she stood up, "I gotta go now, Nino wants to have a date night, so I'll leave you with your little prince charming."

Marinette rolled her eyes, "tell Nino I said hi," she said as she started eating her food, humming happily as she took a drink of her juice.

"Marinette?" Adrien called up, "are you decent."

"always am." She called back, smiling when Adrien poked his head up.

"I think you're at least a couple points up from 'decent'." He said, "at the very least you're amazing."

"well aren't you a smooth talker." She hummed, putting her tray on the desk and turning around, smiling at Adrien, "How was your day?"

"it was alright," he said, taking his coat off and carefully putting it on the chaise, sitting down on it and smiling at her, "how was yours.'

"long," she said, putting her hands in her lap, "it's hard to stay focused when I'm cooped up in here all day…and I don't really want to head downstairs…takes too long."

Adrien thought about it, then stood up and walked towards her., "then let's go up." he said, scooping her up.

"w-what!? Adrien what are you-" she spluttered, as he walked up the steps that lead to the trapdoor that lead to her balcony.

"you need a change of scenery," Adrien said as he nudged the door open, carefully walking out into the cool autumn afternoon, "and your balcony offers a great view."

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Damien Scroeter looked down at the revolver in his hand, absentmindedly, loading and unloading it.

" _NORTH! HUNDRED YARDS! THREE HAJI'S WITH AK's! RPG TO THE WEST!"_

he stopped loading the gun as he looked up, staring at himself in the mirror, he was tired, his once vibrant blue eyes were dull and had dark rings around them, and his hand shook slightly as he slowly started to load the gun again.

" _Damn it, we're pinned, Scroeter, see if you can't make it to that outcropping over there! We'll give you covery fire, when you get there, you unload on these bastards!"  
_

Scroeter slowly put the cylinder in place, closing his eyes as it moved into place with a final _click!_ He slowly reached up and ran his hand along the EGA tattooed on his right arm, Semper Fi right underneath it.

" _Scroeter! Get a Medic! We need to-"_

Scroeter opened his eye and looked at the gun one last time, slowly pulling the hammer back.

" _you got lucky son, the enemy thought you were dead, they walked right over you…_

he slowly stood up, looking at himself in the mirror as he placed the muzzle right between his Adams apple and the bottom of his jaw.

" _why do you get to come home? What makes you more special then my husband? Why!?"_

Scroeter felt tears slowly trail down his cheeks, "damn it…" he gritted out, throwing the revolver onto his bed and sinking down to the floor, covering his eyes as he sobbed, unaware of the butterfly that slowly made its way towards his dog tags, when it landed, he sat up straight.

 _Sergeant Chaos, my name is hawkmoth, the loss of your platoon was tragic, and the way you were treated by their kinfolk even more so, you believe you have lost all purpose, but I can supply you one._

Scroeter closed his eyes, "I don't need your kind of help." He muttered.

 _Don't you? you have a finger on the trigger, and no other alternatives, anyone else would write you off as a lost cause, but not me, I'm willing to give you the purpose you once had in life, and all you have to do is help me get what belongs to me._

Slowly stood up, his eyes opening with a new glint, "sergeant Chaos, reporting for duty hawkmoth." He said, saluting his reflection as a dark cloud swirled around him.

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Bridgette sat in the ER, writing a report on the last person that had come in.

"hey Bridgette!" another Nurse called, walking out of a patient's room, "think you can cover my shift tomorrow? Me and Craig are celebrating our anniversary.

"must be nice…" Bridgette muttered, then said out loud, "sure thing Jane, I'll let Barbara know, alright?"

"you are a life saver." Jane said.

"that's the job description right?" she said with a tense mile as Jane walked into the back, she let her smile fall and sighed, "when do I get to celebrate an anniversary." She muttered, typing away on the computer, the door suddenly opened, making her quickly stand up and look up, ready to assist anyone who needed it, she felt her face flush as she saw a concerned looking Felix come running in,

"F-Felix! W-w-what are-" she started, jumping slightly when he looked at her.

"Bridgette, you're a nurse? That doesn't matter," he shook his head, "has a man come in here by the name of Damien Scroeter?"

"n-no, we've only had one man come in on this shift, and his name was Marcus Sinclair, why?"

he took a deep breath, "Damien is a friend from Basic," he said, "haven't seen him in years, he called me the other day asking for my help; but when I went to his apartment, I found it empty…his window was broken, there was blood..'

"let me call the paramedics that are out, there's a chance they may have picked him up and took him to another ER, just relax and sit down."

Felix took a deep breath and sat down while Bridgette radioed the paramedics.

"what's your friend look like?" Bridgette asked.

"short red hair, blue eyes, well-muscled," Felix said.

Bridgette relayed the information to the Paramedics, "no, doesn't look like they picked anyone up with that description." She said, "but if you stay seated I'll send some feelers out, I have a couple of friends who owe me favors."

Felix sighed, "it'll take too long," he muttered, "if he's not hurt, then he's hiding, and if he's hiding, then I won't be able to find him unless he wants to be found."

Bridgette hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry," she said softly, "I wish I could help you more."

he slowly looked at her, "you helped enough," he muttered, standing up, "I'll see myself out."

"w-wait!" Bridgette shouted. making Felix stop short, "Um…I know it's a little inappropriate at the time…what with your friend missing and all…but…do you…do you want to get coffee sometime?"

Felix blinked, "what?"

"I…forget it, it's stupid…" Bridgette mumbled, shrinking slightly.

Felix looked at her, then sighed, "Thursday night?" he asked, making her look up in surprise.

"um…sure," Bridgette said, blushing slightly as she brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "I-I get off at six."

he nodded, "see you then," he said, turning and walking out.

Bridgette waited until he walked out before letting out an excited squeal.

"what happened?" Jane asked.

"oh nothing, just got myself a date this Thursday." She said

"wow, good for you, who's the lucky guy?" Jane asked with a smile, leaning against the wall.

'his name is-" Bridgette stopped as a loud explosion made the windows blow out, both nurse's quickly hit the ground.

"Akuma attack?" Jane shouted over the djinn.

Bridgette listened closely to the ruckus, her eyes widening as she heard gunfire, "No...I don't think so."

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"you were right," Marinette whispered quietly, looking out across Paris beside Adrien, "a change of scenery is exactly what I needed."

He smiled, "I know how it feels to be cooped up in a small space all day," Adrien said, "sometimes you just have to get away, if only for a little while."

Marinette nodded, laying her head on his shoulder.

Adrien smiled, slowly reaching over and intertwining his hand with hers.

Marinette smiled, blushing ever so slightly, "is Turtle coming tonight?" she asked.

Adrien shook his head, "he's got a date…or so he tells me."

Marinette giggled, "so does that mean you're going home early?"

"and why would I do that?" he asked.

"because…you know…turtle isn't coming."

Adrien just smiled, "I'd rather not go home, when I can spend time with you."

Marinette's blush deepened, "r-really?" she squeaked out.

Adrien turned his head and kissed the top of her head, "Really, really," he said.

Marinette sighed in content, closing her eyes slightly.

Adrien smiled and looked out across Paris once more, his brows furrowing as he saw smoke trailing into the sky, his eyes widened as he saw two plumes of smoke and fire come from around the wreckage of the Eiffel tower, "Marinette…I have to go." He said.

"what?" she asked slowly sitting up, her eyes widened as she saw the smoke curling into the sky, "akuma…" she whispered.

Adrien disentangled himself from her, standing up, only to be stopped by Marinette grabbing his hand.

"Adrien…"

Adrien closed his eyes, he took a deep breath and turned around to Marinette, "I can't explain it right now, but I have to go, they need me."

Marinette felt tears glistening in her eyes, "you're…you're Chat Noir…aren't you?"

Adrien felt his throat tighten, he nodded slightly, "what gave it away."

"the 'favor' Jade turtle owed you." she mumbled, "the fact that you disappear every time there's an akuma attack…" she looked at him, "and then there's the memories…I have flashes and snippets from when we used to go out on patrol…and you act a lot like Chat Noir does…not to the same extreme…"

Adrien kneeled down and picked her up, carrying her back into her room, "I'm sorry Marinette…I never pictured you'd find out like this." he said softly, lying her down on the chaise.

"Don't worry…" she whispered, "Just…take care of yourself Chaton…"

Adrien took a deep breath and knelt down and kissed her on the forehead, "I'll be back," he said, "I promise," he climbed back out onto the balcony, "Plagg, claws out!"

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Warren watched as Paris burned from the safety of the Martin Farm.

"hey man," Gregor said, walking over with a shotgun, "Grandda said to give you this, just in case whatever's' attacking Paris comes this way."

Warren took the shotgun and looked at it, "thought France didn't allow people to own guns." He said.

"private owners can have them if they're using them for hunting, but Grandda usually keeps them around for other purposes too."

Warren smiled and put the shotgun next to him, still staring at the city.

"someone special in town?" Gregor asked, sitting down.

Warren shook his head slowly, "no…well…not really, not anymore…"

"you sure?" Gregor asked, sitting down next to him.

Warren sighed, "I don't know…" he muttered, "I mean…I thought she was the real deal you know? Then she…she tore my heart out…but she's the first person to make me believe there was something…more to life…the first person who made me actually want to try to something…she wasn't the nicest person…but she was the best she could be…"

"Hmm…well, it seems like you still hold a candle for her." Gregor said, giving a half smile, "more like a torch, but…" he stopped as Warren stood up, walking over to his motorcycle, "what are you doing?"

"I'm going to make sure she's alright." he said.

"are you kidding me! the city is basically under siege! And you want to go into the middle of it!?"

"I have to make sure she's fine." He said, kicking his cycle to life, "I thought I could just sit back and pretend it didn't matter…but…I need her, and she might need me right now." He revved the engine and took off, Gregor attempting to run after him.

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" Gregor shouted at him as he hit the main road, "god damn it." He ran back to the house and ran in, "Farfar I gotta go to town and help Gregor!" he said, grabbing the keys to the truck, he looked at his grandfather, who looked small and frail while lying on the couch, his eyes looking dim and distant.

"Gregor! Wait!" Ragnar rasped, forcing himself to stand and hobble over to his grandson, carrying two small wooden jewelry boxes, "take these with you, one is for you…the other…Warren."

He looked at his grandfather, then took it, "thanks." He said, running out to the truck, grabbing his grandfather's shotgun as he went.

"gå med styrke, barnebarn" Ragnar muttered, looking at the tribal tattoos on his arms that started to disappear, he staggered to the couch and collapsed back onto it, his breathing shallow, "and take care."

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Nino ushered several people out of the burning wreck that was once a bus, "go! Run! Get away from here as fast as you can!"

"help! I'm pinned!" someone in the back of the bus shouted, Nino quickly ran in and looked around, he spotted a man with his leg pinned by two seats, "help please!" the man pleaded, straining as hard as he could to pull the seats apart.

"Nino! What are you doing!" Alya shouted from outside the wreck.

He ignored her as best he could as he strained, "come on!" he snarled as the seats started to pull apart until, finally, tore one of the seats off, "let's go!" he shouted to the man, helping him up and practically dragging him out of the bus, he got out as the rest of the bus was engulfed in flames, two other guys ran over and took the man and carried him over to an ambulance that was already flooded with people around it.

"you idiot!" Alya shouted, running over to him and hitting him in the chest, "you know how dangerous that was!?"

"he needed help!" Nino shouted back, "I wasn't going to leave him to die!"

"you almost killed yourself! How would that have helped anyone!?" she snapped.

"but I didn't die!"

"but you almost did!" she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Nino slowly walked forward and put his arms around her, "we'll be fine," nino whispered to her as she sobbed.

"I can't lose anyone else Nino…" she mumbled.

"and you won't," he said softly, "you won't."

another explosion rocked the street, making Nino shelter Alya as he looked up, seeing small black orbs streaking across the sky, slamming into the ground with a concussive force, "what is this…" he muttered, "another Akuma attack?"

"watch out!" Felix shouted, tackling them to the ground as one of the orbs slammed into the bus, making the remnants explode and sending shrapnel everywhere.

Felix slowly stood up, glaring at the bus, "Mortars…" he muttered, "I'm also hearing small arms fire and M-16's…damn it Scroeter what did you do?"

"what?" Nino shouted, his ears ringing from the explosion.

"you two need to get out of here," Felix shouted, standing up, "get some place safe, preferably into a shelter or a basement."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Alya shouted back at him.

"Just go!" Felix snapped, taking off down the street to help a paramedic trying to get a man on a stretcher.

"What the fuck…' Nino muttered, slowly getting to his feet and helping Alya up, "We have to go." Nino said, _get Alya somewhere safe then find a place to transform…_

"I can't!" Alya exclaimed, making Nino stop short.

"What?"

"I can't!" she slowly let go of his hand, "I have something to do!" she took off running, quickly getting lost in the mob of people trying to get away.

"Alya!?" Nino shouted, trying to follow, "ALYA! ALYA COME BACK!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chat ran through the streets, helping everyone he could as he made his way to city hall, where it seemed the attacks were coming from, as he got closer he saw a barely holding police barricade around city hall, a few meager cops engaged in what could only be described as a firefight, no officer was without wounds, some lay on the ground, unmoving, their guns lying in their laps or on the cracked concrete in front of them, and at the head of it all was Officer Roger, firing a rifle with one hand, the other hanging limply at his side, covered in blood.

"Officer Raincomprix!" Chat shouted, jumping in front of him and deflecting bullets back at an unseen enemy, "what's going on!?"

"Akuma…Akumas…I don't know." Roger said, quickly ducking down and reloading his gun, "there's about fifty hostiles in front of us, probably another twenty all around the city, we're trying to keep them contained, but nothings stopping them, bullets, tasers, nothings stopping them."

Chat peaked over the barricade where a group of fifteen men were slowly making their way forward, they were slightly shadowy and dressed in American tactical gear and military fatigues, ignoring the bullets that hit them as they fired their own weapons, accurately hitting the police force.

"we're gonna get overrun soon," Roger muttered, grabbing his radio, "904 to all officers, fall back, I repeat fall back! Regroup at Hotel de Ville."

Instantly the other officers started falling back, Chat jumped in front of them and twirled his staff, deflecting bullets back at the men, who continued to walk forward, uninhibited.

"Chat! Fall back!" one of the officers shouted, running forward with his shotgun.

"get out of here!" Chat shouted back, swinging his staff at a nearby soldier, it connected and sent the man toppling across the concrete, only to slowly stand back up, walking towards him like nothing had happened.

The officer fired a shot off and made one of the apparitions fly back, eh chambered another round and fired again, "Go!" the officer shouted at Chat, who flipped off the car.

"come on! We can both-" Chat stopped talking as a bullet flew through the officers forehead, spattering the sidewalk and chat with blood, Chat let out a strangled gasp as he looked down at the dead body, his entire frame shaking, he then looked at the blood on his arms and chest, too stunned to even try and wipe it off.

"Chat! Move!" Vixen shouted, tackling Chat to the ground as they opened fire.

Chat shook his head and slowly got up, Vixen helping him, they took off into the streets, the soldiers stopping just short of a bridge.

"sir," one of the men said into a headpiece ,"hostiles are retreating, should we pursue?"

" _Negative, hold the line, they'll be back."_

"copy that Sergeant Chaos, holding position."

Chat collapsed on top of an apartment building, his breathing labored.

"are you alright?" Vixen asked, looking over the blood-stained teen, "where were you hit."

"i…I wasn't hit…that…that officer…he…" Chat tensed and threw up on the ground, Vixen patted his back, "this is the worst Akuma yet…property damage, slight injuries that's one thing…but…killing…"

Chat shuddered, "the police are regrouping at Hotel De Villa, we need to go link up with them."

"you go, I'll do what I can to help civilians get out of the line of fire," she pulled something out of her pocket, 'here, earpiece, so we can keep in contact, anything new happens contact me, kay?"

Chat just nodded mutely, putting the earpiece and and running towards the river, Vixen watched him go and sighed, "turtle, where the hell are you." she muttered.

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Chloe helped an injured man into the hotel, several cops running to help her as they staggered in.

"Madam Bourgeois! We told you to stay inside!" one officer shouted, gently taking the man from her and helping him further into the hotel.

"he needed help," she huffed out, "have you found my father yet?"

"his motorcade got hit five minutes ago," the sergeant present said, "we sent two RAID teams to try and extract him."

"how bad were they hit?" she asked quietly.

The sergeant said nothing, looking at her with hesitance.

"how bad." She snapped, glaring at him.

"front and rear cars were completely totaled, his car crashed into the side of the building. There are signs of someone still alive in there…but we don't know who.'

Chloe closed her eyes, "Reassign one of the RAID teams to civilian evacuation." She said, looking at the sergeant, "It doesn't take two teams to bring one person back, and there are still civilians in the middle of a war zone, we need to get them out."

"yes ma'am." He said, turning around and talking on his radio.

"we got incoming!" a rookie shouted, "everyone get down!"

three seconds later a mortar went off right in front of the hotel, shattering the windows and sending a few unlucky people flying, two seconds later a mortar hit the top of the hotel, shaking it to it's very foundation.

"FRANZ!" the Rookie shouted, running over to an officer who had been too close to the windows, a large shard of glass impaled in his stomach, "WE NEED A DOCTOR OVER HERE!"

a man covered in soot with crooked cracked glasses on ran over, "give me space" he said.

Chloe looked out the window, "we need to move everyone we can out of here," she said, "this building is too much of a target."

"we can't move," the sergeant growled, "the minute they see armored vehicles rolling down the street, they'll hit us.

"then get a bus!" Chloe snapped, "civilian vans, cars, trucks, anything! Just get the civilians and the wounded out!"

the sergeant smiled grimly, "yes ma'am." He said, turning around and shouting orders.

Chloe slowly sat down in the receptionists chair, taking a couple of deep breaths.

"you alright?" the rookie asked, limping over to her, his uniform was torn and blood stained, and his blond hair was matted with dirt and blood, most would expect Chloe to snort in disgust and refuse to speak with him, but this was a different day, a horrible day.

"I'm fine," she said, straightening up and looking at him, "are you alright? you were pretty close to that window?"

"nothing that can't get fixed with a good night sleep madam," he said with a painful, lopsided grin, "Just gotta take care of this Akuma and we'll be good for some sleep eh?"

Chloe gave him a wane smile, "yeah, I'm sure Chat's almost got it taken care of."

"well then ma'am," he said, pulling his wallet out, flinching slightly as an explosion went off in the distance, he pulled a credit card out and put it down on the counter, "I'd like a penthouse suite, something with a view, now I am a very important man so money is no object."

Chloe looked at him, then started to laugh, a genuine laugh, "I think at the end of this, all of you will get to stay in a penthouse here, all charges paid for."

"is this what it's like to be famous?" he questioned with a chuckle as he put his wallet up.

"I think so," Chloe said, looking up as the sergeant walked briskly over to them.

"Delaney, start gathering the civilians and the wounded, anyone who isn't too critical to be moved, get them out into the bus and get them to the nearest hospital.'

"yes sir," the rookie said, giving Chloe a wave goodbye as he walked away, "alright people! Listen up!"

Chloe sighed and let her shoulders sag.

"you do well under pressure." The sergeant said.

She shook her head, "no, I really don't." she said with a humorless laugh, "i'm horrible under pressure, I'm just getting better at faking it."

"sometimes that's all anyone needs." The sergeant said, patting her shoulder.

"INCOMING!"

the building shook once more, this time the floor above started to cave in, "EVERYONE OUT NOW!" the sergeant shouted, ushering everyone out as fast as he could, he looked up as a large chunk of the roof fell out, he looked over to Chloe, who was busily helping a man out the door to know what was going on, "Madam Bourgeois!" the sergeant shouted, tackling her to the side as the building caved, trapping both of them under the unforgiving concrete and marble.

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Jade Turtle ran as hard as he could through the streets of Paris, helping who he could as he searched through wreckage and buildings.

It was in one of these buildings that Vixen found him, quickly healing a boys broken legs before attempting to run out, only to stop short when vixen stepped in his way, "out of my way." He said.

"where were you?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"what?" he asked, shouldering past her and walking out onto the street.

"where were you? because you weren't at city hall where the Akuma was."

"didn't know that's where it was." He said, "but thanks," he started running in the direction of city hall, Vixen following.

"hey! Shellhead! What the hell are you doing!" she snapped.

"I'm going to city hall." He said.

"are you crazy!? Me and Chat got our Asses handed to us! Place is a death trap!"

"exactly why I need to go there!" he snarled, turning his head slightly to glare at her, "If you don't want to come you don't have to, but I do."

Vixen suddenly jumped over him, kicking him in the stomach to send him tumbling back, "I'm not going to let you go over there to die." She said., then gasped slightly as as he got up and punched her in the chin, sending her flying into the wall of a nearby building.

"If I don't get over there then someone I love will die!" he snapped, turning to walk away,, only for Vixen to grab him from behind and slam him into the ground, they wrestled on the ground for a couple of seconds before vixen had him pinned.

"Who the hell is so important that you'd risk your life on someone who probably isn't even there!?"  
she shouted.

"my girlfriend!" Turtle shouted back at her, stunning her slightly.

"she…she ran off in the confusion…and…and i can't let her just stay out in this chaos on her own! i have to find her!"

Vixen slowly let him up, he started to turn around to run off once more, but she caught his arm.

"I'm sorry, i really am." she said slowly, "but i can't let you run out there and get yourself killed, the best way to help her is to capture this akuma as soon as you can, and you can't do that at city hall."

he looked down, then took a deep breath, "alright, where to?"

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Warren dodged machine gun fire on his cycle while Gregor attempted to do the same as he drove up to warrens side, "this was a brilliant idea!" he snapped at the teen, "drive into the middle of a war zone, like some kind of damn movie hero! only, guess what? WE'RE NOT BULLET PROOF IN THIS FLICK!"

"no one told you to follow me!" warren snarled revving his engine, "why did you follow me?"

"because i wasn't about to let you go get yourself killed!" they turned a corner and slowly came to a stop as both the truck and the cycle spluttered and died, Gregor jumped out and looked at the damage, "well…could be worse." he said.

"speak for yourself," Warren grumbled as his bike all but fell apart, "we're still a couple blocks from the hotel, we'll have to walk the rest of the way."

Gregor just grunted and reached back into the truck, pulling the shotgun out, then saw the boxes his grandfather gave them, "oh yeah…Farfar said these would help." he picked up the boxes and tossed one to Warren, who easily caught it.

"what is it?" he asked, slowly opening it as Gregor opened his. both letting out surprised gasps as the boxes glowed with a bright silver and gold light. when the light disappeared, a tiny golden eagle and a tiny shaggy grey goat floated above the two.

"man it's been forever since i've been out.' the eagle said in a deep voice, "last time i was out, Europe was at war, doesn't look like anything has changed."

"shut it Baldur." the goat grumbled, it's voice raspy, it turned it's blue eyes to Warren, "so, you're my new wielder, gotta say, they chose well this time."

"uh…wha…how…" he looked at Gregor, who was equally in shock, he looked back at the two animals, "who…what…wha…"

the goat rolled his eyes and looked at Baldur, "do you want to explain? i'm getting tired of doing it."

Baldur flew up to Gregor, "well, i'm Baldur, and the angry goat is Thor, the Kwami's of Warriors,"

"gods once." Thor muttered, "able to go wherever we wanted, do what needed to be done."

"enough Thor," Baldur said, "we're here to help you two fight off whatever evil it is that is attacking."

"yes," Thor agreed, "we can give you powers for a certain amount of time, make you stronger, faster, more durable, and in your case-" he gestured to Warren, "Summon thunder and lightning."

"we don't have anything like that." Baldur said, landing on Gregors shoulder, "but you can definitely fight better then him."

the two boys looked at each other. "so…we're superheroes?" Gregor asked.

"to put it bluntly, yes." Thor said dryly, "Now, i'm sure there's a lot to do, since the city's on fire, so lets get to work, say "Mjolnir to me" and you will transform."

"and you call for Rød Død." Baldur said.

"should we do it?" Gregor asked, pulling a golden bracelet out of the box and slipping it on, looking over to Warren who was putting a silver necklace on with a hammer pendant.

"Chloe still needs my help." Warren said, looking at Thor, "Mjolnir, to me!"


	11. Chapter 11

**sorry for the long wait, works been kickin' my ass, but i've found some time to start updating once again so enjoy!**

 **Peace.**

Chat slowly walked through the Hotel de Ville, looking at the injured officers and civilians that lined the hallways and rooms.

"Chat Noir." Officer Roger said, limping over to the hero.

'Officer Raincomprix." Chat greeted, 'how's everyone doing?"

"lots of injuries, minimal deaths, and a hell of a lot of property damage." he looked over into a quiet room where six bodies were covered with white sheets, "I'd rather it have been no deaths."

Chat nodded solemnly. "Hawkmoth's getting desperate."

Roger nodded, "So, what's the plan?"

"get Vixen and Turtle here and try to find the Akuma." Chat said.

Roger sighed, "well, until that happens, i've called the national guard in, hopefully they'll get here soon and help us set up an effective front."

Chat nodded, "Excuse me." he said, walking away from Roger and pressing a small button on his earpiece, "Vixen, where are you? have you found Turtle?"

" _yeah, we're on our way, but Chat, there's something going on, i'm seeing a lot of helicopters in the sky."_

"Officer Raincomprix said he called in the National guard, it might be them."

" _They're dropping assault vehicles, those damn mortars are already targeting them…what the-TURTLE WATCH OUT!"_

Chat winced as the feedback made the earpiece screech, "Vixen what happened?"

" _we're being targeted by those vehicles!"_

"why would they be-" he stopped as the doors opened up and several men clad in military fatigues ran in, guns trained on Chat, 'Chat Noir, stand down and submit yourself to restraint."

"Vixen, get somewhere safe," he muttered, turning around, baton in hand, "what can I do for you fine gentlemen."

"Shut up and get on your knee's!" the sergeant shouted.

"what is going on here!?" Officer Roger exclaimed, limping over to the men, "all of you stand down!"

"sir you need to remove yourself from the room!" the sergeant said to Roger, "now!"

"that's quite enough Sergeant Yantz," a new voice said, making Chat groan.

"what now." he muttered, looking back to the door where a man in his Dress uniform walked in, smoking a cigarette as he looked at Chat. his hair was cut in a regulation high and tight and his blue eyes seemed to analyze every single thing about Chat and the room around him.

"Chat Noir," the older man said, slowly strolling in, "Colonel Odair, Big fan, by the end of this i hope i'd be able to get an autograph for my son, but for now, i'm going to need you to surrender your weapon and submit yourself to restraint."

"why?" Chat asked, "me and my people are the only ones who can stop this akuma!"

"you and your people are one of the primary reasons Paris is in flames." Colonel Odair said, "this little, private war you have going on with hawkmoth has begun to gain civilian casualties, which i can't allow to happen."

"we didn't start this war," Chat said "hawkmoth did, and yes there's been some unfortunate deaths, but you put us under arrest then you leave the entire city defenseless."

"we're here," he said, "the city won't be defenseless, we'll storm city hall and retake it."

"and what about the akumatized victim?" Chat challenged.

"the enemy has committed atrocious crimes against the City of Paris and the Country of France, he will be met with lethal force."

"He's not in his right mind!"

"HE'S KILLED DOZENS OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS!" The Colonel snapped, "as of now he's gone from being a victim, to being an enemy combatant, now. give up your baton and submit to restraint!"

Chat looked the colonel straight in the eye, 'fuck you." he said, taking off towards a window as the men opened fire, spinning his staff as he did, knocking bullets back towards the soldiers as he busted through the window, the soldiers charging after him.

'Let him go," Colonel Odaire said, "Sergeant! get your men ready to assault city hall!"

"Yes sir!"

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Vixen dodged another round from the tank in front of her as Turtle charged it, his shield in front as machine guns fired. "we need to get moving."

"damn Tank's blocking the front! and these soldiers aren't letting up!"

"then we need to get to higher ground!" she shouted, starting to move.

"watch out!" Turtle shouted, jumping in front of her as the Tank fired off another round, it slammed into his shield, sending him flying down the street and into a building, Collapsing it.

"TURTLE!" Vixen shouted, running towards him, only to be forced to abandon that plan as the soldiers fired at her, making her jump over a car and stay crouched, "Turtle!" she called, "can you hear me!?"

"vixen!" someone shouted, making her turn around to look at six men with rifles, aiming center mass. "get your hands in the air!"

Vixen slowly put her hands up.

"CATACLYSM!" Chat roared as he jumped on top of the tank, his claws raking through the steel armor, the tank started to smoke and spark as he jumped off, slamming into the squad of soldiers with an intense ferocity that left Vixen speechless, by the time he was done, not a single soldier was left standing, all of them were lying on the ground in varying degrees of unconsciousness, the tank behind him was nothing but a heaping pile of scrap metal, the crew that had been inside were now running down the street in terror.

"Chat," vixen said softly. watching the black clad superhero standing over the unconscious forms of the soldiers, breathing heavily, angry snarl fixed upon his lips, his eyes alight with a fire that sent a flicker of fear through Vixen.

"you alright?" he asked, walking over to her and helping her up.

"fine…wait Turtle!" she exclaimed, running over to the building that Turtle had slammed into, she started to sift through the rubble.

"where is he?" Chat asked.

"I-I don't know," Vixen said shakily, "he got hit…pushed me out of the way…he-he took the shot for me…"

'We'll find him." he said, helping her move rubble until they heard a groan.

"Turtle!" Vixen shouted, plunging her dust covered arms into the rubble and pulling a body out, her eyes widened when she pulled out an unconscious Nino, "N-Nino?" she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

"Wayzz!" chat called sifting around where Vixen had pulled Nino out, coming up with a small green kwami.

"i did all i could," Wayzz mumbled, looking fatigued as he sat up in Chat's hand, "if he hadn't of had the shield…"

Vixen looked down at Nino, "Nino is the Jade turtle?" she asked softly.

Chat nodded slightly, "we need to get him some medical attention.

"Take him to Master Fu," Wayzz said, flying groggily over to Nino and collapsing on his stomach, "i can guide you there."

"i need to power back up." Chat said, standing up, "Vixen, can you take him?" he looked at her and quickly shook her shoulder, "Vixen!" he snapped, making her jump, "I know this is a lot of information to get, but you need to keep it together and help him."

she slowly nodded, "okay." she whispered hoarsely, picking up Nino's limp body and taking off while Chat slowly left the street, "plagg, claws in." he said, letting the transformation drop. he took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, his hands shaking slightly as Plagg went into his pocket and pulled out some cheese.

"you alright kid?" Plagg asked quietly.

Adrien leaned against the wall, sliding down, 'I don't know…' he muttered, "i feel…numb…"

Plagg flew out and landed on his shoulder, "it's never easy…seeing someone die.' he said, "especially when you think it's your fault."

"it was my fault…" Chat muttered, "he ran back to help me…he was trying to help me get out and then-'

"I know," Plagg said solemnly, "but you didn't ask him to come back, you did all you could under the current circumstances to make him retreat short of picking him up and carrying him out. "

Adrien closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cheek.

"it doesn't get easier kid." Plagg consoled, "i've been through enough wars to know."

Adrien angrily wiped tears away, 'you ready Plagg?" he asked.

Plagg nodded, "lets get this going!"

"Plagg, Claws out!"

in a bright flash of light, Adrien was transformed to Chat Noir, "lets go catch up with Vixen."

"Adrien?"

Chat froze, slowly turning around, "…Felix?"

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Bridgette struggled to keep a man held down as two surgeons attempted amputate his leg.

"Keep him still!" the surgeon shouted.

"I'm trying!" Bridgette cried,

"don't cut my leg off! please! please!" the man cried, tears soaking through the bandages around his eyes, "please don't!"

"give him some morphine!" the surgeon snapped.

"we don't have anymore!" Bridgette put a hand on the mans chest, "sir," She started calmly, "you need to calm down-"

"don't cut my leg off." he whimpered out, his head turning from side to side.

"we won't, i promise we won't," she said gently, looking around frantically, 'Gina," she called, making Gina run over, her hair disheveled and blood stained, "get us some kind of liquor." she whispered into her ear.

"they said they would-the want to-i don't- no-please…" he mumbled.

"we won't," she said as Gina ran over with a bottle of whiskey, "Here, drink this sir."

"w-w-what-what is it?" he asked.

"just some whiskey, help you calm your nerves." she said, gently propping him up and putting the bottle to his lips, he drank greedily, pausing every now and then as the whiskey burned his raw throat, soon the bottle was half-way gone.

"i won't lose m'leg?" he slurred out as she guided him back down.

"No sir," she said "Just try and get some rest, i promise things will be better when you wake up," she looked at the surgeon and nodded, she stood beside him, holding his hand as the surgeons continued to amputate his leg, the man groaned in slight pain throughout the procedure, his head tossing back and forth until they were done, she carefully let go of his hand and started moving away.

"Bridgette."

she quickly turned around, coming face to face with the on call doctor, who was covered in blood, sweat and bile, his sandy hair was disheveled and messy, and his glasses were slightly crooked.

"Do you need any help doctor?" she asked, mentally preparing herself to help with another surgery.

"no, i came to tell you to go ahead and rest." he said, running a hand through his hair, "the fighting seems to have died down for now, and search and rescue parties aren't going to be back for a while yet, so get some sleep."

she shook her head, "No, there's too much to do right now, people are still coming in and-"

he put a hand on her shoulder, making her stop, "we have every single able bodied staff on high alert." he said gently, "and you were already working a double shift before all this started, i' sure you can spare an hour or two to close your eyes."

Bridgette hesitated, "only…only for an hour." she said, "and if you need my help you'll wake me up, okay?"

"of course," he said, "room 104 is empty, and Carla filled it with mats, pick a free one out and get some sleep."

she nodded and slowly walked down the hall and into the room, several people were asleep, many of them with injuries, "hell on earth." she muttered as she laid down on a mattress near the wall.. trying to get comfortable. as she finally settled, she felt a tap on her shoulder, making her turn and crack an eye open, standing behind her was a small girl, around 5 with short auburn hair and green eyes, "can i help you?" she asked politely.

she shook her head slightly, looking at the older woman.

"are you sure?" she urged, sitting up slowly.

the little girl looked at the mat, then at her.

"do you want to lay down?" she asked.

the girl nodded quickly.

Bridgette looked around, noticing most of the mats were full now, "where's your mother?" she asked gently.

"I don't know…" she mumbled.

Bridgette sat up fully, "go ahead and lay down then," she said.

the little girl hesitated for a while, then slowly laid down next to Bridgette, curling up next to bridgette's leg as bridgette leaned back against the wall, her eyes slowly closing, "i'll keep you company until your mother comes to get you." she mumbled, letting her head fall once more.

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Chloe woke up staring at the crumbling ruins of her fathers hotel, "no…"She to sit up.

"Stay down!" someone shouted as a hazy sillouhette ran up to her,"try not to move."

"Delaney?" she mumbled, "wha…"

"you got caught in the explosion," Delaney said, "almost crushed…"

how…how did i…" she winced as an explosion shook the area.

"GET THOSE PEOPLE OFF THE DAMN STREET!" Delaney shouted. "damn it we need to move!"

"we can't! flak's too hot!" another officer shouted off to the side.

Chloe slowly sat up, trying to clear her eyes.

Mme. Bourgeois, you need to stay down!" Delaney exclaimed, gently pushing her back down to the stretcher, making her wince.

"what did i tell you," a new voice said, deep and commanding, if a little uncaring, "get those wounded out of here."

"the attacks are getting more frequent, we can't-"

"-i'll handle the mortars, just get out!"

"who…are you…" Chloe mumbled as her vision cleared, standing before her was a viking, much the same as the Akuma who had attacked paris months before, yet different all the same, he wore a viking helmet with wings pinned back on the side, scale armor covering his chest and a wolf's pelt pinned to his back, in his hand he carried a fierce looking hammer.

"i'm here to help, that's all you need to know," he growled, looking to the sky as mortar rounds started coming down, he jumped into the sky, his hammar striking through the explosive rounds and detonating them in mid air. from the roof of a nearby dozens of arrows streaked across the sky, intercepting what mortars the hammer wielding Viking couldn't reach, Chloe could just make out the fuzzy form of a man in a brown cape and hood.

"they came a few minutes after the hotel collapsed." Delaney said as he and another officer picked up the stretcher Chloe was lying on, "guy with the hammer lifted the rubble like it was nothing. and the one with the bow is a dead shot with it." they carefully loaded her onto the back of a truck, "get some rest now,"

Chloe turned her head to the side and watched as the viking leapt into the sky once more. and her vision went dark.

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Warren landed back on the roof of another hotel, watching the trucks roar down the streets.

"there they go." Gregor said, walking over, clad in a black cloak and hood, a gray cloth covering his mouth and nose, lightweight plate armor covering his chest and left arm, his right completely uncovered. a red bow clutched in his left hand.

"yeah…nice shooting by the way."

"Thanks, last time i shot i was in summer camp." he looked up to the sky once more, "but i feel like my shot was going astray."

Thor rolled his eyes, "it was fine, we got the job done." he turned to look out across the city, "so…now what?"

"We could go back to the farm." gregor suggested, "ride this out.'

he turned to Gregor, "you're a chicken shit, you know that?"

"Hey, i'd like to live, is that such a bad thing?"

"is when you're trying to run." he muttered.

"what do you want me to do? storm city hall? i'm sure we'll get four feet before we get completely riddled with bullets."

"or…" Warren started, seeing a bright green flash of light off in the distance.

"or?" Gregor asked.

"or we can follow Chat Noir and see if he has an idea of what to do next." Warren finished as he watched the leatherclad superhero jump out from one of the streets, carrying a pedestrian on his back.

"well…guess i can't argue with that." Gregory sighed, "lets go."

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Marinette watched the city of Paris burning, clutching the Notepad that contained all the memories that had come back to her.

"Marinette," her mother said, walking into her room carrying a tray of food, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine maman." Marinette said with a small smile.

"the news said the fighting isn't coming this way' she said, putting the tray down for her daughter. "but we're not allowed to leave the house."

"Okay maman…" Marinette said.

"I really wish Adrien had stayed." Sabine said, "it's dangerous out there."

"he'll be alright," Marinette said, "i have faith in him…"

Sabine nodded, "well if you hear anything from him, let us know, just to give us some peace of mind."

"I will Maman." she said as her mother started walking back to the ladder.

"will you be fine?" she asked, stopping at the foot of the ladder and looking back at her daughter, "or do you want to come down? sit with me and your father?"

"i'll be fine Maman, maybe later." she said, giving her mother her best smile.

"okay…i'll come up to check on you later." she said, heading down the stairs.

Marinette sighed and looking down at her notebook, "useless…" she muttered, "Useless, useless, useless…can't even help my friends…stuck in this stupid chair…" she clenched the notebook as tears started to gather in her eyes, unaware of the purple butterfly slowly making its way towards her notebook, she stiffened as it landed on her notebook and a voice rang through her head.

 _Hello, Ladybug…_


	12. Chapter 12

Alya sat next to Nino inside of Master Fu's room, not saying anything as Master Fu wrapped his injuries, behind her Trixx sat with Wayzz, her arms around him in an attempt to comfort the stricken kwami

"Broken ribs, concussion, several lacerations to the chest and arms…" Fu muttered, "luckily nothing is irreversibly damaged, I should be able to patch him up and get him on the road to recovery.'

"Thank god." Alya sighed, relaxing slightly.

"This is an unprecedented level of violence, even for Hawkmoth." Fu said sadly, "I never thought it'd get this bad."

"Well it did." Alya muttered, looking at Master Fu, "you're that old man that almost got hit by that car, aren't you?"

He nodded quietly, "I'm the Grand Master of the Miraculous, i'm the one who decides who gets a miraculous."

"Were you the one who gave Hawkmoth his Miraculous?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Not this hawkmoth." he said, "but a hundred years ago...I was the one who lost the miraculous…"

"You're still to blame." she muttered, looking away.

"In a way," he sighed, "i thought the man I gave it to in the first place was the right fit for the job I had in mind...but he was easily corrupted…" he shook his head, "good intentions turned bad."

Alya looked down, "what are we going to do?" ALya asked quietly, "France wants us arrested, Hawkmoth apparently wants us dead, Nino's injured and Chat's barely keeping it together."

"We will continue on." Fu said, "the night is always darkest before the dawn, if we can simply live through it, we will see a glorious sunrise."

A knock at the door made both of them jump up, Fu narrowed his eyes as he slowly walked forward, looking out through a small peep hole, he relaxed slightly and opened the door, letting Chat stagger in. "Chat Noir? Are you okay?" Fu asked.

"Fine." Chat said, looking about the room, his eyes narrowed slightly when he saw Alya, "Vixen." he greeted.

"Chat," she said, slowly standing up. "I thought you were right behind us?"

"Got sidetracked." Chat said, kneeling next to Nino, "how is he?"

'He's doing fine Chat." Fu said, "just needs rest."

"Can we purify the Akuma without him?" chat asked.

"It will be difficult...but there are certain spells that can be performed...the write off is the person who performs the spell will be rendered unconscious for an...indefinite amount of time."

"Teach it to one of us." Chat said, "because i know who it is, and I know where his Akuma will most likely be."

"How'd you find out?" Alya asked.

"A...friend told me." he said uneasily.

"Well i hope your friend has some heavily armored backup because just me and you aren't going to be able to fight both the Akuma's minions and the French Army."

Chat looked at Master Fu, "are there anymore Miraculous that we can use?"

"No." Fu said, "it's a danger to even have these three all active while Hawkmoth has the Ladybug Miraculous."

"It's dangerous to let this guy continue doing what he's doing!" Alya exclaimed, "we need more help!"

"Shush." Fu said, his eyes darting around.

"No! We aren't just going to-"

"Be quiet!" he snapped, looking at the windows, where several lights from flashlights were darting about, "Alya, transform, Chat get ready to fight."

Alya glared at him for a bit, then said the words to transform herself into Vixen.

"No sooner had she changed did a loud voice come from outside.

"Chat Noir! We know you're in there! Come out with your hands up! We have you completely surrounded!"

Chat slowly walked forward and peaked out the blinds, grimacing as he watched French soldiers slowly creeping towards the door, behind them were several Humvee with mounted machine guns, "damn it." he muttered, backing up, "I didn't think they'd see me when I came here…"

"So we're surrounded?" Vixen asked.

"Looks like it." Chat said, looking to Fu, "is there a way out of here?"

"There's an entrance to the catacombs downstairs." Fu said, "but they'd be able to follow easily."

"Not if they have someone to chase." Vixen said, "i could cast an illusion-"

"No," Chat said instantly, "we don't need you running out of juice when we still have that Akuma running amuck."

"Perhaps we need to split up once more." Fu said, a twinkle in his eye, "me and Vixen will go down into the catacombs with Nino and the miraculous box, and Chat, you can meet us later on down the line."

"I'm pretty sure they'll shoot me as soon as i step out."

"Only if they can keep up with you." Fu said with a grin.

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Lieutenant Freed didn't know why he was there, attempting to arrest Chat Noir while an Akuma was on the loose, wouldn't they need his help to stop it? Whatever, if his orders were to capture Chat Noir then that's what he would do, "Sergeant!" he called over to one of his soldiers, "Advance."

"Yes sir!" he responded.

"Chat Noir!" Freed shouted once more, "come out with your hands up!"

"Who am I speaking with!" chat called back.

Freed squared his shoulders, pleased that he finally made Contact, "this is Lieutenant Freed with the French army, we are here to place you under arrest! Come out with your hands high!"

"...Lieutenant Freed….you can kiss my ass!"

As soon as those words were spoken Chat burst out of the garage door atop a relic of a motorcycle, he flipped them the bird before popping the clutch and roaring down the street.

"Back to the Humvees! We need to catch him!"

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Chat's heart was racing as he roared down the street, smirking as he heard the Humvee's roar to life and come after him, "they're on my tail." Chat said into his headpiece, "i'll get them as far away as I can before doubling back to the meeting place.'

" _Be careful with that motorcycle Chat, Plagg will not forgive me if it gets totaled."_

"Didn't know Plagg could drive." Chat muttered as he turned down an alley, the Humvee's slowly gaining ground as he went, with a sharp turn he went down another street, this one marred from the conflict that had gone on throughout the day, he drove around rubble and burnt out cars, ducking when he heard machine guns fire off behind him, "God damn it!" he snapped, swerving more erratically as they continued to fire.

Suddenly a sharp Twang! Reached his ears and one of the Humvee's swerved and crashed, an arrow in it's tire.

"Keep driving!" someone shouted at him, "we'll deal with the Military!"

Chat looked about and saw a hooded Figure standing atop one of the burnt buildings, loosing arrows at the humvee, many of which bounced off the armored hulls. Though a few found their marks and sent two more Humvee's careening out of control, leaving only one, which transferred it's fire from Chat to the mysterious bowman.

Chat groaned and hit the brakes, turning the bike with a squeal to face the Humvee,ready to call for cataclysm until a heft blur streaked across the sky and slammed into the front end of the humvee, electricity arcing around it, "Holy mother-" Chat yelped as what hit the humvee stood up.

"You alright up there!" the man shouted towards the bowman.

"I'm good!" the bowman returned, jumping down into the street.

"Good," he muttered, turning to look at Chat, "and you?"

"Fine." Chat said cautiously, "who are you two?"

"I'm Thor, the one with the bow is Baldur."

"Is that what we agreed our names would be?"

"Yes, now shut up." he looked back to Chat, "we were in the neighborhood, thought you could use some help."

Chat grinned, "you have no idea."

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Felix slowly crept through the abandoned streets, his hands in his pockets as he looked around corners and ducked into alleyways to hide from the patrols of French military.

 _Don't go out again until the fightings over, I mean it Felix._

"Like i'd listen to you little cousin." Felix muttered as he finally caught sight of city hall, he looked about for a few moments, then started walking towards the steps.

"Freeze!" someone shouted and suddenly Felix was surrounded by ghostly soldiers, many of whom he remembered.

"Jaune? Montes? Rodriguez?" he asked shakily, looking at the men who were now looking at each other, slowly they lowered their guns.

"Good seeing you Agreste." Jaune muttered, "sorry to do this old friend, but Sergeant Chaos orders are to arrest anyone who comes into the square."

"HIs orders were to kill." Rodriguez corrected, "but i'm sure he wants to see you…"

Felix forced himself to relax and remain as stoic as he could, "lead me to him then." he said.

Montes reached up and pressed a button on the side of his helmet, "Dog Catcher 1 to Dog pound, enroute with VIP to Sergeant Chaos' location."

 _Roger that Dog Catcher 1, be advised, we got hostiles inbound."_

"You heard em boys! Lock it down!" Montes bellowed as they led Felix into City Hall, Felix, for his part, looked about the building, his eyes narrowing as he started to recognize and pick out old friends from the roaming bands of ghostly soldiers, "what the hell are you guys…" Felix muttered.

"Not sure," Jaune said, "don't remember much, one second we were in Afghanistan, next thing I know we're in France."

"Stow it Jaune." Rodriguez berated the younger man,shoving him hard, "he may be an old friend, but he's a civilian now, we don't have to tell him anything."

"Always the stickler, eh Rodriguez?" Felix asked with a small smile.

"Someone has to with you lot." he said, giving him a ghost of a smile as they entered the Mayor's office, where a very familiar figure stood looking over a map.

He was tall, dressed in an incomplete USMC uniform, trousers tucked into tan boots, plate carrier covered in several pouches, no shirt on underneath, eyes covered by tactical goggles and patrol cap on his head, his skin was a stone gray and the dog-tags around his neck were stained black by the akuma within.

"Captain Felix Agreste," Sergeant Chaos said, looking up at his old friend, "it's been much too long."

Schroeter." Felix greeted, making the Akuma smile.

"Leave us, reinforce the garrison." Sergeant Chaos said to his former teammates.

"Yes sergeant Chaos," they said Automatically, turning to leave.

"See ya Agreste…" Jaune said softly as the door closed.

"How could you?" Felix demanded as soon as the door was closed, "accepting an Akuma is one thing, but to bring our dead friends back-"

"-I gave them a second chance." he interrupted, "a second chance to live!"

"And a first chance to be slaves." Felix retorted, "pawns for Hawkmoth's plot!"

"Some sacrifices had to be made." he dismissed, "but when this is over-'

"-when this is over Paris will be destroyed and you'll be dead!" Felix snapped, "Don't you understand that!?"

"You don't understand Felix," Sergeant Chaos spat, advancing on his friend, "you have no idea how bad things got! How low i had sank! And for what? To be rejected by the families of my friends? To be called a coward and a traitor?" he turned around, "couldn't get a job because I was having attacks every other god damned day! Couldn't pay my rent! Putting a gun to my head every other day!"

Felix's eyes widened. "Damian...I had no idea...but this isn't right, you know this isn't right! You're killing innocents! Slaughtering cops...this won't end with things being better…" he slowly advanced, putting a hand on his shoulder, making him look over, "Come on Damian...take off those dog-tags, give up, I can help you."

He hesitated, his hand slowly going up towards the dog-tags, only for the outline of a butterfly mask to appear around his eyes, "It's not Damian." he growled, throwing Felix back across the room, "It's Sergeant Chaos."

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Bridgette woke up to a small girl shaking her shoulder. "Hmm...what is it?" she asked quietly.

"This has been ringing." she mumbled, holding Bridgettes phone up.

Bridgette took the phone and winced at how many missed phone calls and texts she had, she unlocked the screen and scrolled through the messages from her aunt.

 _Bridgette, are you okay? I know you were working a shift so you're probably bogged down, call me when you can._

 _Bridgette, how bad is the fighting in your area? Hope you're okay._

 _Tom's talking about moving to the school where there could be protection._

 _Bridgette something's wrong with Marinette! She's having some kind of Seizure! Call me ASAP!_

Bridgette instantly stood up and attempted to call Sabine, only for it to go to a busy tone. "Damn it." she said, running out of the room, vaguely aware of the little girl following her, "Doctor Grendel! Doctor Grendel!"

"Bridgette?" the old doctor asked, looking up from where he stood with a teenage boy, treating him for several small lacerations.

"I need to get to my Aunt and Uncle fast!" she said hurriedly.

"Wha-why? What's wrong?"

"I don't know! They said my cousin had a seizure, and their not sure what's going on but I can't call them for some reason and-"

"Okay, okay, calm down." he said gently, looking around, "Dimitri!" he called, making a fairly large paramedic run over, he looked as ragged as the rest of the hospital staff, his work shirt gone more than likely torn up to be used for bandages, leaving him in 5.11 pants and boots and a wife beater, "she needs to get somewhere fast."

He nodded, "Come with me." he said, turning around to walk through the halls, "where are we going?" he asked her.

"Boulangerie patisserie." she said, unconsciously taking the little girls hand.

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Alya was more than a little surprised when Chat noir showed up to their Warehouse hideout with two new Miraculous wielders, though she didn't have the time to really wonder where they came from as they started conversing about what they were to do next.

"Obviously we need to get to city hall." Chat said as they sat around an old table, "the Akuma's probably fortified it by now, so it'll be hard."

"We got a tank dude." Baldur said, pointing his thumb at Thor, "I think we'll be good."

"We also have to worry about the French Army." Alya muttered, "they're roaming the street right now, and will probably be ready to attack as soon as they see us."

"France has an army?" Thor snorted, making the other three glare at him.

"Yes, we do." Chat muttered, 'and they're heavily armored, and probably pissed."

"So we got the french army on one side, and an army of ghost dudes that we can't hit on the other, this'll be greaaat."

"We can hit them." Chat said, "I noticed it the last time I fought them, we couldn't really hit them, but every now and then a shotgun blast or a hit from me would send one of them flying. Maybe small things they can phase through, but something as big as a shotgun blast they can't."

"We also have to take into account your staff." Alya said, "It's magical, so is the rest of our gear, so we'll be more effective against them."

"Good to know." Thor said gruffly, "now, with Turtle head over there indisposed, how are we going to capture the Akuma?"

"With this." Master Fu said, walking over with a wooden box, freshly carven in intricate runes, "it will contain the Akuma until Mr. Lahiffe is well enough to purify it."

Chat took it and put in his pocket, "guys…" he started, "this could very well end with all of us dead or captured, it's not gonna be easy...so...if anyone wants to back out, I won't hold it against you."

Silence hung in the air for a few moments, until Baldur started to stand up, Thor roughly grabbed him by the front of the shirt and forced him to sit down, "we're not going anywhere." Thor said grimly.

"Apparently not." Baldur muttered, leaning back ,"well, might as well help, not like i had anything planned...just living…"

"We're behind you one hundred percent." Alya said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded, "let's get to work then."

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Marinette felt pure unadulterated fear course through her veins as she stared at the figure of Hawkmoth. The man was calmly walking about her room, looking at things, including the notebook she had been writing in, "I must say," he said, "you remembered far more than I thought you would."

"Why are you here?" she asked, her voice quivering slightly.

"Just to talk." he said, looking at her, "find out how the great Ladybug was doing."

Marinette glared at him, her fists clenching the sides of her wheelchair, "Is this some kind of joke?" she asked angrily, "you take my miraculous, cause the tower to fall, take away my legs, and ask me how i'm doing!?"

Regret flashed through his eyes before he looked away, "what happened that day...was something I never wanted to happen." Hawkmoth muttered, "but things tend not to follow the plan." he looked at her, "for example, for the past year, my plans have been foiled time and time again by two teenagers who never seem to quit."

"And we won't quit until you're stopped." Marinette said firmly, "how can you do this? Use peoples anger and sadness just to get power?"

"I do not do this for power, Mademoiselle." he said coldly, "I do this, for a single wish."

"A single wish?" She asked disbelievingly, "A single wish!? Do you know how many people have died because of you!?and for what? Some stupid wish?"

"It doesn't surprise me that you don't understand." he dismissed, "you've never had to make the choices i've had to make…" he looked at her, "but perhaps it's time someone gave you a tough decision to make." he put both hands on his cane and leaned forward, "do you want your legs back, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette felt her heart freeze at that, "what?"

"Do you want your legs back?" he asked again, "while the Akuma in my possession aren't technically used for this...i could fashion the one in your notebook right now to grant you the use of your legs...under certain conditions."

Her throat constricted, "w-what...what conditions?" she got out.

"Your memories." he said flatly, "for your legs."

"My memories…" she whispered.

"An inconsequential thing." he drawled.

"But...but why…"

"Because I don't need another child attempting to stop my plans." he said, "and at least without your memories, you would probably go out of your way to stay out of danger."

Marinette looked down.

"Come now child, wouldn't it be great if you could walk again? Go back to school, work with your family in their bakery?" he hummed, "perhaps you have a significant other you would like to go on a real date with. All could be had if you simply give up your memories-"

"You're lying." She said softly.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"You're lying." she said again, much more clearer as she looked up, fire in her eyes, "you don't care about minimizing damage, you don't care whether or not I walk again, all you care about is my memories, but why...why would you…" her eyes suddenly widened as she looked at Hawkmoth once more, "I know you're identity…" she whispered.

Hawkmoth's eyes narrowed, "you don't know what you're talking about." he said.

"Yes I do! I saw your face...on the tower, before it fell!" she exclaimed, her eyes darting about as memories flooded back, "when we defeated him...you-you ran out of time! You detransformed and…" she stopped as Hawkmoth slammed his cane into the ground, making it shake dangerously.

"I tried giving you an out, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng." he muttered, his voice soft, but full of rage, "I tried to give you a chance to step away from it all...but I see now that I will have to take...drastic measures."

A flash of bright light shot from the cane and marinette screamed.


End file.
